Password : Amor
by DeannaReadX
Summary: The war is over and The trio's NEWTs are approaching. Hermione's in love with Ron... Right? Wrong apparently,thanks to Draco Malfoy.
1. Chapter 1

Draco Malfoy sighed tiredly and closed his eyes; tipping his head back against the wall and exposing his neck. His longish bleach blonde hair was ruffled on his scalp, windswept and dishevelled but not ruining his look. His soft skin was pale as ever and his eyes were a beautiful pearly blue. He had a straight, perfectly shaped nose and smooth, slightly pinkly tinted lips. His body was boyish and masculine; suiting his suave posture as he slanted against kings cross station's wall with his hands in his pockets over his black blazer which he wore over a black t-shirt, skinny fit jeans and ankle height Nike trainers.

Some things about Draco had changed since the war, a year before he wouldn't have dared to even look at muggle clothing. But he was warming to it and to the new society since his father had been sent to Azkaban. His mother was helping his redemption by teaching him the differences between good and evil, filling in the blank spaces of the knowledge he should have had from childhood. Draco was still slightly prejudiced but he was gradually turning into a better person.

Draco had been invited back to retake his seventh year of magical education at Hogwarts. He had missed the NEWT year due to the fading black tattoo on his left arm and everything that came with it. He had only accepted because he would be moping around in self pity all year if he'd refused.

He pushed up and away from the wall of platform 9 ¾ when he heard the train driver of the Hogwarts express call for last boarding's. Draco lifted his oversized muggle gym bag easily and stepped toward the long, red train.

* * *

"Oh Ronald shut up. Its fine I can look after myself" Hermione bent down to kiss her boyfriend on the forehead. Her long, brown, silky ringlets fell over her, covering their faces. She whispered in Ron's ear "I'll see you later yeah?" he smiled and kissed her briefly on the lips, earning a loud cough from Harry. She stood up to full height and he watched her exit the compartment. He was grinning widely.

"I'm happy for you guys and everything Ron, but mate you look like someone's put a permanent sticking charm on two pins holding up either side of your mouth" Harry mused, Ginny laughed and Ron flashed Harry his middle finger, the grin not faltering in the slightest.

* * *

He was already in the carriage when she walked in, what she saw immediately made her stop in her tracks for a second. "Stop gawping Granger" he said in a bored tone but, being a cold blooded male, his eyes travelled her newly toned and woman-like body. "I wasn't gawping Malfoy" she shot back trying to get over how much healthier he looked compared to the last time she'd seen him when he'd been a shivering, whimpering poor and pathetic looking excuse for a seventeen year old boy. Hermione would even have gone as far as to say that the last time she had seen Malfoy in a miniature courtroom, he'd looked worse than Harry had when they were on the run; and that was truly saying something.

She muttered something about an inflated ego and sat down as Draco smirked slightly, satisfied at the fact that he'd annoyed her so quickly and effortlessly.

"You look well" she commented curtly, looking him in the eye so as not to show a sign of weakness, he mirrored her but his smirk grew more pronounced and he raised his eyebrows "you mean I no longer resemble a loyal member to Voldemort's gang of inferi" he corrected her with a smirk. She nodded, flashing him a quick smile at the humour in his voice.

"You seem different Granger" he said, looking her up and down again, making her unusually smug. "Well, I had a chance to freshen up since our last meeting. You know, when I was writhing and screaming in pain on your sitting room floor" she said, giving him a dark look.

His smirk vanished and his eyes became expressionless "yeah... look Granger, I'm sorry about that" he said awkwardly. She frowned, searching his face for some sign of the old, obnoxious, ignorant toe rag that insulted anyone of a different blood. She found nothing, just a young boy tainted by bloodshed and evil, traumatised by the life he was forced to lead.

"Malfoy... what happened to you?" she asked, sounding surprised and genuinely concerned. He sighed and pinched the bridge of his nose between his finger and thumb. He let out another deep exhalation of breath and looked up at her, adjusting his body on the seat so he was sat in a more ignorant fashion, keeping up the famous Malfoy name of stoic and hard faced cockiness.

"The same things that happened to you Granger, just more firsthand" he answered simply and his voice held no emotion. She frowned more obviously but he sighed and closed his eyes, she took this as her queue to shut up.

All of a sudden and much to her surprise, he spoke, breaking the thoughtful silence between the two former enemies.

"Bet your going to love living with me this year isn't you Granger" he said sarcastically. She rolled her eyes and smirked "yeah, head girl is going to be a blast" she said, mirroring his previous sarcasm. He smiled properly at her for the first time ever; much to her discomfort, it made her nervous... in a good way?

"Well at least its separate bedrooms, I better not have to share a bathroom with you, I might have to kill myself" he said and she let out a relived breath, glad that the old Malfoy had not disappeared completely. Her eyes narrowed when she had gathered herself "still a prejudiced little ferret then?" she asked, testing the water to see if he had changed at all. He nodded curtly and went back to his attempted slumber. This nearly gave her a heart attack; there was no way Malfoy backed down to an insult. Never in the eight years had she known him, had he ever accepted someone of 'lower blood' insulting the great glory boy.

There was a thoughtful silence for about ten minutes until curiosity got the better of Hermione, she readjusted herself on the sofa-bench seat so she was facing Draco and asked "how come you're wearing muggle clothes then?" He opened one eye patiently "because I feel like it Granger" he answered arrogantly. She frowned "but you hate anything to do with muggles" she held the voice of an inquisitive teenager questioning a parent. He tensed slightly, perplexed at her annoying effort to be civil "war changes people, have you been using your eyes? Can you actually see me? Look at you Granger, I thought you'd always be a virgin but it seems that Weasley finally managed to ply the padlock away from your ancient knickers. I'm impressed Granger, you've come into your own" he felt guilty immediately and he knew she was only trying to be nice but he just couldn't help it, it was Granger, mudblood Granger; new, irritatingly sexy Granger. And of course, he didn't believe all that shit about 'weaker blood' anymore.

She blushed scarlet and narrowed her eyes into a murderous glare "why do you always insist on pissing me off Malfoy?" she hissed and he opened both eyes and raised his eyebrows again "vocab changed to then, seems you're not the polite little piece of shit you used to be" he retorted, unable to stop himself; once Malfoy was drawn into an argument properly, there was no pulling out. She stared at him furiously.

"Arrogant arse" she shot

"Mudblood" he shot back

"Deatheater" she said, defiantly, standing up to leave. A strong hand landed on her arm, twirling her around and slamming her into the door. He placed a hand against the glass on either side of her head hard, making her flinch but she kept the fierce, strong look masking her chocolate brown eyes.

"You know nothing about me Granger, I might have the mark but it doesn't mean I want it there" he hissed venomously, his previous coolness vanished.

Hermione and Draco stared into each other's eyes for a few seconds before hers watered a little, he wasn't sure whether it was because she wasn't blinking or because he'd touched a nerve; either way he tried furiously to tell himself that he didn't care.

"At least your mark held some twisted kind of honour for you at some point Malfoy, mine will haunt me forever and I'll never be able to change that" she choked, reaching behind her for the door handle and unlocking it, ducking under his muscular arm and disappearing into the corridor.

Draco fell back onto his seat in a daze. He leaned his head back on the soft fabric and closed his eyes once again; one thing was for sure, this was going to be an eventful year.


	2. Chapter 2

Harry Potter wrapped his arms around Ginny Weasley's waist from behind and bent his head to rest his chin on her shoulder comfortably and casually.

"Hello stranger" he whispered, planting a kiss on the side of her face. "Hi" she replied with a grin at her boyfriends antics. She had been talking to her ex Michael Conner when Harry had kissed her. She knew Harry wasn't the jealous type; he was simply marking his territory. She knew she would have done something similar had Harry been conversing with Cho.

Ron walked up to them, Mike taking that as his queue to leave as he and Ron weren't exactly on good terms prior to Mike's previous failed relationship with Ginny. "Have you seen Mione? I wanted to see if she was alright after the train ride with Malfoy in the head's cabin" Ron was looking around impatiently for Hermione, ignoring half the entrance hall pointing and cooing over Harry and Ginny's relationship; they were officially the hottest couple in the school and everyone wanted to have the same dreamy, buzzing, amazing love that they felt for each other.

Ginny frowned, putting her hands on top of Harry's around her waist and making circular motions on his hand with her thumb. "Give her some space Ron, you've been with her every waking moment for the last month" Ginny said confidently in a slightly annoyed voice. Ron went redder than his hair; Ginny knew Hermione loved Ron but Ginny also knew that Hermione was feeling slightly suffocated through Ron's eagerness to be with her all the time. He looked furious with his sister and walked off in a huff, still searching for his missing girlfriend.

Ginny rolled her eyes and turned in Harry's grasp, wrapping her arms around his neck "go and deal with my arse of a brother before he finds Draco and kills him. I'll see you at the feast in about ten minutes, okay?" she instructed. Harry smiled and leaned down to kiss her, feeling the familiar tingles in the pit of his stomach. "I love you" he said and let go of her, jogging after Ron "love you too" she called after him, causing the Patil twins to 'awww' loudly and giggle.

Ginny heard a mock wolf whistle from behind and whipped around to see Draco leaning sideways against a doorpost, hair ruffled and windswept, blue eyes surveying her. The first two buttons of his school shirt undone, showing the beginnings of a muscular chest and body. She raised her eyebrows, he really was quite good looking, but he didn't even come close to Harry in her eyes.

"Enjoying the view Weasley" he asked with a smirk on his face, she smiled and ran forward to hug him tightly "I missed you" she said, grinning at him and pulling away.

Since the end of the war, Ginny and Draco had struck up a very close and unlikely friendship, her being one of the only people willing to give him a second chance. Harry was fine with it and had even gone as far to shake Malfoy's hand; however Ron made it perfectly clear by his evil glances and sour atmosphere that he had no intention of ever getting along with Malfoy.

"Have you seen Hermione? I said something out of order to her earlier and I wanted to... apologise" he said, the word apologise sounded painful for him to even say when talking of Hermione, the girl he had fought with and hated since the moment they had met.

Ginny frowned "Drake you do realise you just called Hermione by her first name don't you?" she asked. But he didn't answer, he had spotted Hermione. He looked disgruntled and groaned at the prospect of having to apologise to her, he hated saying sorry to people.

Draco kissed Ginny on the cheek before running after Hermione in an easy and athletic jog.

"OI! GRANGER" he shouted. She whipped around, flashing him a look of pure loathing.

"Fine then, I was going to apologise but I won't bother" he said mockingly to her back. She froze, contemplating saying something but decided against it, letting her pride get the better of her. She turned, smiled weakly at him and turned back, walking toward Ron, kissing him and following him to the door where the rest of the students were waiting for Professor McGonagall to let them into the great hall where they would eat their feast.

"Don't worry, you'll argue all year and then you never have to see each other again" came a sarcastic but soothing voice from behind him. "Just stay out of Ron's way and things will be okay" the voice instructed softly.

He nodded but was distracted by his male instincts when a girl walked passed, skirt hardly covering her bottom. Ginny sighed "You will never stop being a man whore will you?" she teased. He shook his head "honey, Slytherin sex god till the end!" he said with a wink. He grabbed her, tickled her until she was squealing loudly and ran off before she could follow. He was through the newly opened double doors, knocking a first year over as he went, in a matter of seconds.

"Mr Malfoy, watch where you're going, I didn't make you head boy so you could put my first years in hospital" McGonagall shot firmly. He groaned again and nodded, feeling the inevitable respect for the old woman taking over as he walked slower.

He sat down by his friend, Blaise, at the Slytherin table, a few eyes following him as he walked to his seat. Everyone was completely decided against him now, the whole school knew about the dark mark branded into the pale skin on his left arm. He had experienced nothing but respect and fear from most of the school before then so it was a little strange for him to see looks of hate, annoyance and a different kind of fear, the way everyone used to look at Potter when he used to have those fits. The students were staring at him like he was about to snap and massacre the whole hall.

"DUDE! Were the fuck did you disappear to huh? I was braving it with Pug faced Pansy over there while you decided you was going to drop off the radar!" Blaise Zabini turned toward him, slapping him on the back and yanking the blonde sideways into him with a strong arm around his neck. "Unhand me Blaise you'll ruin my rep, it's already bad enough that I won't get a decent shag this year; I don't need you making everyone think I'm gay" Malfoy said in a bored tone, hiding his relief to hear his best friend's light-hearted tone hit his eardrums for the first time in over a year.

* * *

Hermione was staring at her empty plate, deep into a train of thought that she would not remember when awoken from her dazed daydream "Hermione? Hello? Earth to Granger? Wake up woman, you look like you swallowed too much of George's daydream potion" Ginny waved dramatically in front of Hermione's face, making her jump and blink rapidly. Hermione smiled unconvincingly, self-consciously playing with the sleeve, making sure her scar wasn't showing.

"Leave it, you have nothing to be ashamed of" Harry whispered in her ear, smiling and clasping her shoulder blade, massaging it in calming circles with his thumb.

"I know I'm being silly" she said and pretended to shake the moment off. She smiled widely, making Ron look frightened "what did Malfoy do to you Hermione? You weren't like this before we left Kings cross" he tried searching her face for tell-tale signs of a confrontation. Hermione concentrated on her poker-face, staring into his golden eyes until she was sure she could let her guard down. The last thing she needed was a punch up between Malfoy and Ron. "Nothing Ronald, I already told you, I can look after myself" she snapped.

Ginny stared at the floor, knowing she would give something away if she looked her brother in the eye. Ginny didn't know what had happened between her two best friends in the head boy/ girl carriages but it was enough to make Malfoy want to say sorry. Harry decided to drop it and coughed, getting his friends attention when McGonagall had began to talk.

"Welcome to a new year at Hogwarts. Now, due to your previous headmaster being an undercover death eater secretly working for us, last year was a complete disaster, sabotaging the entire curriculum and an unacceptable breech, or should I say upholding of violent discipline. I would like you to know that as newly employed Headmistress, I will be working closely with you to ensure that nothing like this happens ever again. Now this may sound extremely clichéd and cheesy but this is our chance to finally begin a new life at Hogwarts. A new era dawns for this school, let the guilty students have a chance of redemption and the loyal be respected as always. We will carry out the school year to our very best in remembrance to those of our number lost to the great battle last year. We can mend the school with magical builders but it takes a lot more than bricks to rebuild a broken family. So tonight I ask for your help to do so and to restore piece, happiness, love, freedom and structure to our new school life" Minerva finished with a simple smile and a wink to all her students. "As I believe Albus would have been very annoyed had I forgot to say on that note, Nitwit! Blubber! Oddment! Tweak! And on with the sorting!" she exclaimed.

Harry and the others clapped when requested, Ron jumping up and hugging every first year sorted into Gryffindor, frightening every one of them half to death. When they tucked into the feast, Hermione merely sat there, twisting her food around her fork but never putting anything in her mouth. Ron ushered her too eat to the point where she actually slammed her cutlery on the table and glared at him venomously, he looked hurt, confused and just as angry as her. "Ronald will you stop pestering me, I can't help it if I'm not hungry. I will not force food down my own neck and make myself sick just so you feel better about me being okay. Well, news flash! I'm not okay, I'm royally pissed off and all I want to do right now is go to bed" she exclaimed loudly. His ears went scarlet and his eyes narrowed; he stared away from her for the rest of the evening.

She rubbed her forehead now and again, eventually getting too hot and scraping her waist length ringlets into a loose, long ponytail. Hermione kept glancing at her watch angrily and impatiently, counting down the minutes until she would be allowed to go to her new dormitory and sleep.

The worst part was that she still had to see Malfoy before she even thought about going to bed. Hermione had gone on the rampage when she had opened her head girl letter, becoming momentarily the happiest woman in the world to suddenly falling fast at the little loopy letters at the bottom of the small piece of yellowing parchment...

_Head boy – Draco Malfoy_

She had burned her letter, simply throwing her badge on her bed side table and trying not to look at it until she really had to.

She knew, deep down that she was being an unfair bitch to Ron because of what Malfoy had said to her. It was not really even about her scar. The thing that stung the most was the word 'mudblood'. Normally it wouldn't have bothered her but this time; she had really expected Malfoy to have changed his views on the blood status nonsense that deatheaters used as a pathetic excuse to kill innocent people for years.

She closed her eyes, feeling them tear up and she rubbed them impatiently. She was aware that half of Gryffindor were staring at her, concerned for her sudden change of mood and viciousness; she was never off hand with Ron anymore, she was so in love with him, she normally forgot to be frustrated with him. She had taken him as he was and they hardly ever bickered or rowed anymore, this is why everyone was so freaked out when she had very nearly shouted at him for the first time in a very long time.

She decided to sooth the atmosphere that Ron was so good at spreading when he was in a bad mood. She touched his arm but he stared down at his plate. She leant over and whispered in his ear "I'm sorry Ron, I'm just tired. I hate making you feel bad, forgive me?" she felt him shiver slightly at her breath on his ear and smirked "I love you, you know that don't you?" he relaxed at these words and nodded, sliding his thuggish, cuddly muscled arm around her waist and pulling her closer to him. She snuggled her head into the crook of his neck and he dropped a kiss to her forehead muttering "I love you too" he felt her lips turn up into a smile against the skin of his throat and he shivered again "you're never going to tell me about what happened with Malfoy are you?" he asked sounding beaten "no" she said simply, kissing his neck and bringing her arm up around the other side of it to hug him.

* * *

When the feast was over, Hermione met with the prefects, giving them the usual instruction to lead the first years to the dorms. She found Professor McGonagall, nodding curtly to Malfoy who joined her to get the password for their room.

"Ahh, yes, Miss Granger, Mr Malfoy. You know what your duties include yes? Organising the balls, decor and general events and responsibilities. Your password will only ever change if you feel the need for another one, tell no one of it. If you wish to bring others into your dorms, bring them in with you or else make them warn you they are outside so you may let them in" they nodded at the same time "so what's the password then professor?" she asked, slightly more curious and in better spirits now she had made up with Ron.

"The password is Amor" Hermione frowned, but was too tired to question of its meaning. She made a vow to look it up in the morning before breakfast. She immediately started to walk off along the corridor outside the double doors "come on then Malfoy, or are you waiting for Santa to bring you your new dummy to suck on" he smirked slightly, responding to her insult with "suck my dick Granger" she scoffed and he sprinted all the way to their room, trying to catch up with her.

* * *

They entered their dorm with open mouths, the interior was beautiful, the perfect combination of red and green. The sofas were all fabric on top of varnished oak, shaped to look old but antique; there was a largeish kitchen that opened up onto the sitting area that carried on the clashes of Gryffindor and Slytherin. The seating area was boxed around a large, ornate fireplace. Complete with carvings of lions and snakes uniting all the way around the dark oak wood. She smiled, this wasn't so bad; she was feeling decidedly better until Malfoy spoke, walking forward and throwing himself into the nearest armchair "so Granger, here are the rules; you don't touch my stuff, I won't go near your stuff, I will have whomever I want over, ,your free to do exactly the same but don't start moaning at me because of noise, you'll have to take that one up with Pansy, she really is quite noisy" he pulled his mouth up into a crooked smile that made Hermione's heart stop... wait? What the bloody hell was she thinking; Draco Malfoy's arrogant boyish charm and womanising behaviour had no effect on her whatsoever; did it?

She frowned, every emotion she felt seemed to have a direct line to her tear ducts that night, she felt her eyes prickling and blinked the wetness away, choking "goodnight Malfoy" before she practically ran through the door that read 'Hermione Granger, head girl of Gryffindor'

This confused Malfoy when she zoomed across the room without even a backward glance at him, what he felt when she had smiled at the room before, had perplexed him even more; a sudden rush of tingles through the pit of his stomach and all the blood rushing to his head... wait? No, he didn't feel for Hermione Granger, it wasn't possible, she was a frizzy haired, beaver toothed, mudblood little know-it-all. He sighed, she wasn't anymore, even Potter had to admit, Granger had changed, she was an average 5ft 6 and her body was toned and curvaceous; her hair was no longer frizzy and bushy but smooth, shiny and wavy. Her teeth had been shortened and were now perfectly straight and tidy; her lips were plump and a slightly tinted natural colour. Her eyes were shaped and elegant along with her feminine cheekbones and face structure.

Malfoy sighed deeply; he decided that he didn't feel anything for Granger, simple fact of head rush from the food he had eaten and lack of sleep.

He pulled himself up off the armchair, pulling his shirt off, revealing a teenagers full torso of wiry muscles, he had a good physique and was indeed considered a heartthrob among the houses of Hogwarts, even his best friend Ginny had eyes for him, although he knew he could never compare to the way she saw potter. He couldn't think of her in that way either, they were just close friends and she was his only genuine friend at that moment.

He walked through his own labelled door and collapsed on his bed, drifting off as soon as his handsome head hit the soft pillow of the four poster bed.


	3. Chapter 3

Hermione Granger winced and screwed up her face as the sun hit her cheeks, warming her complexion and waking her from her uneasy slumber. Her brunette hair was spread out around her pillow as if she were underwater. She opened her eyes carefully and saw the sun streaming through her dark red curtains that she had not bothered to pull across the night before because she was so tired. She had simply shimmied out of her skirt and pulled her shirt and tie over her head. She rolled over and reached for her watch on the bedside table and realised that she had at least twenty minutes until she really had to get ready.

She lay there for a while, listening to the birds waking up and Hagrid singing loudly from his hut in the grounds. Her eyes gradually began to adjust to the light as the events of the previous night made their way back into her memory. She felt a plunging feeling in her stomach as she relived the fight with Malfoy, her impatience with Ron and making up with him. She remembered getting the password from McGonagall and entering the new common room she remembered … she remembered the crooked smile and boyish attitude and was glad to know that any harboured feelings she may have had for Malfoy had vanished and all she was left with was her usual hate and general loathing for him.

She got up, pulling the blankets away from her slightly sweaty body, deciding she would put a cooling charm on the room before she left for breakfast, like a muggle air con unit. She reached for her trunk and pulled out a fresh pair of underwear, a clean shirt, last night's skirt and a new cloak. She floated through the door with nothing but her t-shirt on over her bra and knickers. She took a towel from a small airing cupboard by the kitchen and an idea popped into her head, she didn't even know why she wanted to do it. She walked casually into the kitchen to get a glass of water. She knew of course that Malfoy would be there. He was leaning against the unit with a cup of tea in his hands.

She nearly laughed when his mouth dropped and his eyes nearly popped out of their sockets but she kept a straight face, smiled as if nothing was different and called on her way to the bathroom "morning Malfoy" she felt his eyes follow her bum and legs all the way across the room. It wasn't until she closed the door in the shower room that she burst into laughter. She really did hate him, such a boy, and he claimed she was a mudblood and how he'd never been interested in her at all and how he wouldn't look twice at her in a million years; well the last time she checked, he was definitely looking.

* * *

"Hermione, you're early" Ginny called, she was the only Gryffindor sat at the breakfast table "so are you" Ginny shook her head "you're never early, you're never late. you're always exactly on time" Hermione smiled, breaking into another satisfied grin, she was doing that a lot that morning "what? What is so funny?" Ginny asked looking bewildered at another one of Hermione's mood changes "Oh nothing just something I made Malfoy do this morning" Ginny frowned "you're not winding each other up again are you, Herm your living with him now you have to start being civil" Hermione chuckled "we're not winding each other up, actually it's the exact opposite" Ginny raised her eyebrows "huh? Do tell, you're confusing me" Hermione chuckled "so I got up this morning and I went to have a shower and I got this wicked idea. I always wanted to know if Malfoy's cold blooded boy nature was completely immune to 'mudblood' so, I put a t-shirt on and the only thing I'm wearing is a pair of kickers, a bra and this old t-shirt. I walk in to the kitchen to get a glass of water and his eyes practically glued themselves to my butt and legs. He watched me walk all the way to the freaking bathroom" Ginny burst out into a fit of laughter, Hermione joined her in the giggling fit that increased to sky high when Draco walked into the hall, glaring at Hermione and blushing slightly as he went to sit next to Pansy who was having an off-day and would not even come close to what Hermione had looked like that morning.

Harry frowned at the tears of mirth pouring down Ginny's cheeks when he and Ron made their entrance and she held her hand up to him "Hermione you saucy mare" Ginny said, hiccoughing herself back to normal in her best bristolian accent "I know right" Hermione answered brushing off Ron's questioning look and saying "It's nothing, don't worry about it" he frowned but was caught of guard when Hermione started kissing him and when they broke apart they hugged and stayed glued together for the whole of breakfast time, watching Harry explain about the latest prank that George had suggested "you know Harry, as head girl, I'm supposed to have put you in detention by now for even thinking about planning this" Harry rolled his eyes and smiled "I won't actually do it Hermione I'm not that stupid and besides you won't put me in detention because you lurrrv me" he said in a gooey voice. "What have you got first then?" Ginny asked him, ruffling his hair playfully "um I think we've got potions with the Slytherins haven't we guy... OI! Ron, I think you have a Hermione on your face" Ginny chuckled and they broke apart looking sheepish "yeah, what were you saying Harry?" Hermione asked, suddenly very interested in her goblet of pumpkin juice. "I said, we do have Slughorn and the Slytherins next don't we?" Hermione nodded, shaping her newly cut sweep fringe on her forehead with her hand.

* * *

Harry was still intrigued by why the girls were laughing at breakfast that morning and was even more perplexed than before when he saw Malfoy shoot Hermione the most murderous glare he had ever seen appear on his face; which was saying something because some extremely hateful expressions had flashed across Malfoy's face in the past. What he saw Hermione do bemused him to the point of madness, she just sat there, looking back at him with a huge, triumphant grin on her face. Then it dawned on him, she had probably played a trick on Malfoy or something the night before; Harry smiled, a wave of compassion swelling his heart for Hermione Granger, the girl that was practically his sister.

Ron looked at Harry from his seat next to him in the potions classroom; his eyebrows raised high at the sudden wide smile on his best friend's face "what's up mate?" Ron asked looking concerned for Harry's mental health "nothing, I'm just really happy, for once I'm actually happy" Ron smiled proudly, like a father staring at a son after the son had made a massive achievement "you deserve it mate but don't go all soppy on me" Harry chuckled and began pulling out the ingredients Slughorn had written on the chalkboard. Today they were making a love potion, the type of love potion with fumes and smells coming off it that fit that of the one you love or scents that attract you.

Hermione was already finished half way into the lesson and just expected to smell spearmint toothpaste and fresh parchment but she surprised herself completely by smelling nothing of the sort. The fumes coming off the potion and bewitching her senses was actually something akin to honey, sweet and fragrant and some kind of de-oderant; maybe Ron had changed his brand of wizard de-oderant.

Ron smiled, smelling the usual smell of the muggle perfume Hermione favoured and her vanilla body cream. Harry couldn't really smell much, he did catch a hint of the obvious strawberry toothpaste and new cigarettes but he smelt that all the time on Ginny so it didn't really affect him much, he also smelt his preferences like Lily's and cooking meat but nothing like that compared to Ginny's unique sent.

Draco breathed over his cauldron and nearly yelled in utmost surprise, he smelt nothing normally because he was in love with nothing, the smells of objects in his life never affected him but all of a sudden the most amazing and alluring aroma drifted through his sinuses, taking over his brain and soothing his previous angry and irritable mood setting the perfect balance between his good and bad emotions; the smell was impossible to identify, like one those smells you had to be really close to even acknowledge. He couldn't quite put his finger on what exactly the smell was; all he knew was that it was the most excellent thing he had ever inhaled.

He flopped on his chair, blonde hair now falling around his head in an elegant fashion that no one else could ever achieve. He sighed deeply, waiting for their pathetic excuse for a teacher to tell them their lesson was over. So he could go back to his long, drawn out and what was now looking to be a terrible year.

* * *

Hermione was sat on a self claimed armchair right by the fire in her common room. She had her legs crossed and a book propped open on her lap. She was subconsciously twirling a ringlet of hair around her slender fingers and was chewing on her lip, feeling anxious about what was about to happen in the book. Hermione loved to read, any book on the entire planet, it allowed her to have a break from reality; to lose herself in someone else's complicated life for a change or stimulate her already over-filled brain with irrelevant facts.

"Granger" she heard someone snap, and her head shot up, a smug grin broke out across her face "Malfoy" she acknowledged in a mocking voice, she saw his face stiffen, his features froze in anger and his fist clenched into balls "I don't know what you think you've been laughing at all day but you are stupidly and completely mistaken" he said, his voice shaking. She frowned, maybe she had messed with his head too much "I don't know what you're talking about Malfoy" she answered him, she saw his fists retract and he seemed to be trying to calm himself down "I will get you back for this Granger" he said, she tried to keep the look of uninformed curiosity on her face but raised her eyebrows "yeah okay whatever Malfoy, don't you have something else to do, like caress your darling tattoo" he froze again, his expression going blank. Hermione hated it when he did that, she didn't like not knowing what other people were thinking "Granger, you seem to be under the misconception that you know me; well you don't. You don't know a thing about me so why don't I enlighten you hmm? Yes would you like to know who saved your god damned life that night Bellatrix tortured you? I did. I saved your life because I felt all my prejudices slipping away from me and I saw a small girl, terrified and in excruciating pain. So I disappeared, I went to see Snape and he got to Voldemort on time to convince him it wasn't a good idea to kill you, he ordered Bella to stop. They were about to throw you into the basement with the rest of your filthy little gang bang before you escaped and Potter nicked my wand" she stared at him in shock. He looked angry, arrogant, defiant and vulnerable all at the same time, his blue eyes bored into hers and she narrowed them in confusion "but why would you do that?" she asked looking utterly flabbergasted "because I felt guilty, what I did wasn't because I hate you any less than I did before, I did it because I felt that if I saved your life I could get rid of the weight of guilt on my shoulders and I could go back to being the foolish idiot killing Mudbloods and muggles" she lifted her head slightly in understanding "It doesn't mean that I don't hate you for who you are though Granger, your still an obnoxious know it all" he laid into her, she breathed in shakily "I apologise for thinking that you hadn't changed, I see that you have and I'm sorry, but like you said, it doesn't stop me hating you for who you are; an arrogant, womanising dick" he smiled crookedly and she felt her heart stop again, she tried to stop herself from groaning in annoyance "I'm going to bed" she nodded curtly and watched him walk away, the sleeves of his shirt rolled up to his elbows, his hair messy again and his arse... _oh god! _She sighed desperately, _ah I need help!_ She thought, throwing her body back on the chair, wincing in pain.

Draco smiled when he closed the door behind him and he was glad that their relationship was back to normal. But he still had to get her back for attracting him this morning, he knew what to do.


	4. Chapter 4

Ron Weasley smiled at Theodore Nott mockingly, causing him to glare back "what are you staring at you filthy blood traitor?" Nott shot, his chin sticking out and his eyes narrowing so much they were nearly closed. Ginny turned around at this and hissed at Nott, making him smile "Weasley, keep your dog of a sister on her leash" Harry launched forward at this point so him and Nott's faces were nearly touching, Harry looked furious "you never insult Ginny in front of me, do you hear me Nott? Your nothing but a little boy who is to cowardly to fight when weaker men fell" Nott backed off a little, suddenly a little scared at the possibility of being murdered by Harry Potter; he didn't like it much.

Ginny touched Harry's arm, motioning him to calm down and leave it "he isn't worth the hassle Harry" she said in a soft, soothing voice. Harry walked toward Nott again "apologise to my friends" Nott shook his head trying to protect the little pride he had left in him. He squealed and winced in pain when Harry slammed his body up against the wall, his hands on Nott's collar, holding him up off the ground.

Ginny knew she shouldn't really be getting a kick out of watching her boyfriend beat people up, but he hadn't even done anything yet and it was making her toes curl involuntarily. She also knew, to her displeasure that she would have to stop him, she knew it would only cause him more trouble with the ministry and he was finally starting to become happy as well.

She stepped slowly and carefully toward them, the look of anger and adrenaline was etched in Harry's features she knew only she could penetrate and bring him back to his sane mind "Harry? Listen to me, its fine, he's a lowlife and you know full well you don't need this at the moment" his grip loosened but he didn't let go. Nott's feet were back on the ground but the boy was still cowering under Harry's furious glare "Harry? Are you listening to me? Let him go... for me" Harry seemed to come back to his senses at her last words and dropped Nott immediately "let him run, were going back to my dorm right now" she said in a hushed voice, grabbing his hand tightly and pulling him away down the corridor. "oh that's alright I'll just scarper while you snog my sister for three fucking hours" he called after them but they were already gone around the corner, knocking over a suit of armour in their hurry.

Ron rolled his eyes irritably and walked off in the opposite direction, resisting the urge to punch one of the walls as he went. Ron was in a bad mood because he and Hermione had a fight that morning, she had said something to Ginny about Draco deliberately walking around in his boxers trying to get her to look. He had gotten jealous at this point and he didn't exactly know why, he had lost his temper and started shouting about her having a 'thing' for Malfoy; he knew it was stupid but he just really hated Malfoy and the idea of the love of his life living with his arch-nemesis. It made him want to scream on anger at the very image. He knew that he should trust Hermione, the whole jealousy thing had made her extremely angry, they shouted at each other for about twenty minutes before he had accidently yelled that she was being pathetic; this made Hermione slap Ron across the face and storm off, scaring several first years coming out of charms as she went.

Ron wondered through the entrance hall and out onto the grounds where he wrapped his biker jacket more tightly around himself. He sat down on the bank of the lake, throwing pebbles so they skimmed elegantly over the trembling black water.

It was a little while before he felt a presence beside him and he didn't need to look for who it was "have you calmed down yet?" she asked in a frosty tone m sitting down on the sand next to him and pulling her legs up to her chin, she shivered. Ron shook his head "but I'm not angry with you, I'm angry with myself" she tutted and dropped her hand from around her knees to place on top of his on the ground. He felt comfort flow through his body at her touch, feeling tingles at his finger tips.

He saw her shiver again and he took off his jacket, throwing it around her shaking shoulders and moving closer so she could lean her head in his own shoulders "I should have trusted you and I made a mountain out of a pebble. I'm sorry" she sighed, unable to stay angry with him "you know that I would never do that to you don't you Ron. I wouldn't ever cheat on you, you mean too much to me" he nodded and wrapped his arm around her and giving her a little squeeze.

"Oh Hermione Granger you really have no idea how much I love you" he said, kissing her head and leaning his own head on her so his cheek was buried in her hair. He breathed her sent in hungrily and melted when she said "I love you too"

They sat there for a while talking about everything and nothing. They laughed and cuddled. They even bickered a little bit. Hermione was happy, so happy that she nearly started to miss just being his best friend but soon forgot about that; besides, she enjoyed being this close to him. It made her feel safe and as though they were the only two people in the world. They lived in their own perfect little bubble until a stag appeared in the form of a patronus, pressing its face to Hermione's chin affectionately and turning to Ron "come back up to castle, lunch is over now and McGonagall wants to talk to the school in the great hall, said it was very important" Ron nodded and jumped up, offering Hermione his hand as the patronus disappeared "so what do you reckon Harry's going to have to save us from now then?" Ron asked her, wrapping his arm around her shoulders and she threaded hers around his waist.

"You don't know that anything is wrong she might simply be announcing a ball or a dance" Ron frowned "wouldn't Minerva have told you if there was going to be something like that; I mean you have to organise things like that don't you?" she processed this for a moment and looked worried, would there really be something wrong?


	5. Chapter 5

When they got up to the castle, they found bustling groups of frightened looking students, fighting to get into the great hall and Slughorn trying, and failing miserably, to order them in non chaotic lines. In the end, he rolled his eyes and waved his wand. The double doors opened by themselves and around five hundred students fell forward, freezing in place at the sight of their headmistress stood in front of them looking stern and slightly angry. Minerva motioned with her arm for her students to move onto the threshold. They moved forward slowly and carefully, separating to sit at the house tables and muttering apologies to Minerva as they walked passed.

Hermione dropped Ron's hand and stepped forward, addressing Minerva like an old friend "what's going on?" she said slightly shakily. Minerva smiled, trying to hide her worry and clear concern. She gripped Hermione's arm in comfort "just sit down Miss Granger, calm yourself" Hermione looked even more worried but nodded and allowed herself to be led toward Gryffindor by Ron. They sat down next to Harry and Ginny. Hermione became more frightened by the minute, seeing Harry with his arms around his girlfriend tightly, a look of extreme stress, worry, anger and fear on his slightly battle scarred face.

"You know something" she accused, gripping Ron's hand tightly trying to draw comfort but it didn't work because he was shaking as well.

"She's told you what's going on hasn't she?" Hermione accused again, all Harry could do was nod. He looked as though he was about to burst or completely loose his cool if he answered her in words. Ginny was looking confused and scared, she winced now and again when Harry held her too tightly, maintaining a constant defensive pose. He looked around shiftily.

Eventually when the whole school including the teachers had been seated, Minerva opened her mouth to speak, hesitating for a second before launching into a strong but shaky voice that carried all the way across the hall, hitting every ear drum.

"Good afternoon students, I have called you in this afternoon because I have received intelligence from the minister for magic himself that, once again, a threat has been made to the entire wizarding world. The person who made the threat is anonymous but is believed to be a death eater. We also believe that there are others that we have not managed to round up after our fight. To explain properly and present you with the facts and evidence I introduce Kingsley Shacklebolt, minister of magic" she turned to welcome Kingsley, who, despite the terrified atmosphere in the hall, still received a very enthusiastic applause from the students.

He smiled and spoke in his deep, soothing American voice "hello ladies and gentleman, I hope you are well on this dreaded evening, although now your dear headmistress has dropped this terrible bombshell on you, I'm guessing not. Earlier today I had howler sent directly to my office that had been charmed not to burn after it shouted. Now I have brought this howler along today so that you will understand fully the true danger your school is in, being the place of our legendary final battle in which the dark wizard Voldemort was finally killed by our very own Harry Potter" Harry sighed, blushing slightly at the applause he got, even louder than Kingsley's earlier.

Kingsley lifted the envelope and opened it carefully, backing off to allow the howler centre stage.

"You have suffered great losses that you truly deserved. The new society is tainted with half breeds and dirty blood. The filthiness of your deluded new lives would make the dark lord himself turn in his grave, if he had one. You killed our master and crushed our hope of a pure world when we visioned purebloods and half-blood's ruled the planet. We sought to bring nothing but clarity and purity to our now disgusting communities. Did you truly think that this was over simply because you have killed our majestic master? You really are deluded because this is not over, you killed him and everything we believed in so now we will crush you. We will ruin your lives and we will fight for as long as it takes to finish what he started. Harry Potter and his filthy little friends will die and we will rule. Oh and we wanted to wish you a merry Christmas because, for many of you, this will be the last one you ever see"

The voice finished and the hall sat in a stunned silence, staring in the same direction at the now closed envelope. Hermione had her face in her hands and Ron was looking furious, rubbing her arched back soothingly.

Harry's stiff face was emotionless and closed off before he looked up at Hermione and Ron "we need a plan. I'm not going into this one without a plan" Harry stood up on the table and addressed the students as bravely as he possibly could; his voice was hoarse from not speaking for a long time.

"I would like to magically screen every student in the hall if you don't mind minister, Hermione lock the doors, Ginny, take care of the first years and Ron, your coming with me" Kinglsey nodded curtly and went into a hushed conversation with Minerva.

"right, we'll go from the top down. Could all seventh year Gryffindors stand up please and don't move from the place where you were sat. Please remember that this is not an accusation, simply a safety measure" the hall sprang into action at once, the Gryffindor NEWT students stood still like statue's, still shocked at being plunged back into the unknown.

Harry went to Seamus first, screening him and nodding when he found nothing "sorry mate, just a precaution you know?" Seamus nodded and sat back down in a daze. Harry did Dean next and so on, Ron scoured Ravenclaw and they found nothing, it was a peaceful and accepting process until Harry was talking to Kingsley and Ron was doing Slytherin "don't touch me Weasley" Harry heard a raised voice say, he made his way over to Ron and Malfoy "I don't even have to touch you idiot, it's just a spell. Unless of course you have something to hide" Malfoy scowled, he did not like spells being used on him against his will "Draco, don't be difficult, just do it" Draco's eyes flickered over to Hermione who had spoken to him in something of a friendly tone "okay beautiful but just for you" Malfoy cooed sarcastically. She glared at him and Ron's eyes narrowed possessively, he resisted the urge to punch him in the face "oh for god sakes Ron move" Harry ordered and cast the charm, silencing Malfoy immediately.

Draco's eyes wondered back over to Hermione's and the corners of his mouth twitched into a small smile, he didn't know why. She frowned but smiled back, dropping their gaze straight away when she saw Ron witnessing their short, silent understanding.

Draco stayed standing after he had been scanned though and he looked back at Harry "Potter do you want me to do anything now you've finished deluding yourself that I'm stupid enough to be part of this and get myself sent back to Azkaban. I am head boy after all" Harry rolled his eyes at Draco's arrogant tone but smirked "yeah, help Ginny take care of the first years" Draco regretted offering his help at once and Hermione started laughing, her made his way over to Ginny, sticking his tongue out at Hermione as he went, making her giggle and smirk. He was laughing himself when he got over to his destination

"Lover boy sent me to help with the little darlings" he said, the sarcastic tone creeping back into his voice. Ginny smiled and took out her wand "why don't we teach them how to duel?" she said, pointing her wand at Malfoy, some of them looked exited but other's looked absolutely terrified "oh you don't want to do that Weasley" he said a wide grin breaking out on his handsome face "oh I think I do, I never got the chance to fight you in the battle and it stimulates the 'little darlings' mind" he raised his eyebrows "okay, watch carefully dwarfs, this is how you slaughter someone" one of them squealed and the other said excitedly "but he's an ex-deatheater" Draco chuckled "exactly" Ginny looked ready to beat up a troll and he sighed lazily and pulled out this wand, backing up and walking back toward her. They bowed and walked back out, twirling around and taking up a defensive pose.

All of a sudden, Draco whipped his wand around in the air, shooting out fire, she held up a shield just in time and the flames danced around majestically before vanishing. Ginny shot out a blast of purple light, Draco ducked and flew a spell that hit her, sending her body flying backward into the wall. Some of the students that weren't crowded around Harry who was constructing a battle plan had started to watch. They crowded around in a circle while Draco and Ginny rapidly shot spells at each other, matching their skills and speed. They were just as good as each other and Draco though it was a draw, until a first year who had supposedly taken sides with Draco shouted "It's he-who-must-not-be-named" Ginny was distracted and he flicked his wand, sending her's flying across the floor only to be caught by Harry. Everyone 'oohhed' and 'ahhed' when Harry clasped it in his hand because he wasn't even looking in the right direction, in fact, he was bent over a piece of paper facing the other way.

Malfoy rolled his eyes, slightly out of breath and chuckled, watching Ginny's momentary anger dissolve and she walked forward to hug him "Ahh I think cripple needs a drink" she said, despite that fact that she too was out of breath.

"But Mr Malfoy sir, it wasn't very educational, you were both using non-verbal magic, we learnt fuck all" a first year boy said, Ginny frowned but Draco laughed "I like you my little friend, what's your name?" he asked, patting the boy on the head. The boy tried to bat it away with his hand "my dad says I'm not supposed to talk to bad men, he says that an old friend once told him that leopards never change their spots" Malfoy looked annoyed in a bored kind of way "well, I believed everything my father told me little boy and look where it got me" Draco pulled up his sleeve and Ginny coughed loudly, turning away. She could forgive him but that didn't mean she could forget.

The little boy's eyes widened and he backed off slightly however another kid that looked heart-stoppingly familiar rushed forward and touched the dark mark, looking fascinated "awesome!" the kid exclaimed. Ginny laughed "what's your surname?" she asked "Matthews" her eyes widened "who was your father?" she asked, the kid shrugged looking confused, he shook his head, getting his black hair to fall over his forehead elegantly, her heart stopped, she was sure of it. Malfoy looked up at her "POTTER" Malfoy called "what now Malfoy, I'm busy" Malfoy's eyes narrowed but he said "you might want to meet this kid" Harry sighed irritably and handed the quill to Hermione. He got up and walked over to them. "Malfoy, what are you doing? Stop trying to terrorise the firs..." Malfoy stood up to his full height and pulled down his sleeve. Harry was frozen to the spot "impossible" he looked down at the kid who was becoming slightly irritable and frightened "who was your father" Harry asked Ginny's previous question solemnly "I dunno, my mum says its better if I don't know" Harry frowned but he wasn't blinking "who is your mother?" the kid took in annoyed breath "dude, just tell me why your asking me all these questions" the kid asked, Ginny whispered in Harry's ear "shit Harry, he even talks like him" Harry nodded "sorry, you look like someone I used to know" the kid frowned again "my mum's name is India" Harry and Ginny exchanged glances and he kneeled down to the kids height "what is your name?" Harry asked in a more soothing voice "James" the kid answered Harry was caught off guard and he toppled backward onto his buttocks "are you being serious kid? You better not be messing us around" James glared at her "will someone please tell me why the bloody hell I'm making Harry Potter collapse now?" Ginny sighed, taking the kids hand and pulling him over to sit down "listen to me, we look like someone we knew about four years ago and his best friend was called James" the kid's eyes widened "hold on, are you telling me that I'm named after James Potter?" Ginny frowned "how do you know who I was talking about?" he smirked "well, you said you knew some guy four years ago and his best friend was James. I just assumed that it was Sirius Black because you were talking about him in past tense and he died four years ago, it was all in the papers and Potter is completely over reacting" Ginny looked angry at this "wouldn't you be a bit shocked if you mourned the death of your godfather and then you find out some gobby, arrogant little first year is the son Sirius never knew he had" Ginny blurted out, she clapped her hand over her mouth, Harry groaned from the floor and Draco rolled his eyes.

Draco decided he couldn't be bothered with the drama and it wasn't really any of his business so he drifted over to the table where about a thousand students were craning their necks to get a look at what Hermione was scribbling on a foot long piece of parchment. He sighed and rolled up his sleeves. He held up his left arm and took a deep breath "MOVE OUT OF THE WAY, DEATHEATER COMING THROUGH, VOLDE'S GONNA BEAT YOU UP IF YOU DON'T LET ME THROUGH" cries of shock filled the hall and the crowd parted , he walked through, smiling sarcastically at the looks of hate being shot at him.

Minerva, Kingsley, Fudge, the head of the Auror office, Ron and Hermione were leant over what looked like maps of several different possible locations for fights "Malfoy, you could have found a much less crude way of sticking your annoyingly fit arse into something that only mildly concerns you" he chuckled and sat down next to her "so where are we thinking it'll happen" he asked on a more serious note, it made her smile understandingly at him; he needed to help them because of the guilt her felt for putting the school in danger when Dumbledore died.

She nodded and launched into an explanation "okay so were going to prep several different places for it, you know, maximum security and extra troupes protecting our most important landmarks, schools, ministries and muggle suburbs. I'll draw up a proper battle plan for each tomorrow. Were also planning a political strategy, were trying to get people on the inside and find out more, we know nothing about the opposition, that is why Harry is so freaked out, it could be any one of us" Draco frowned "you think I'm part of this don't you Granger?" she creased up her forehead and rolled her eyes "If I thought you were working against us do you think I would have told you our entire plan?" he smiled, it felt weird, being friendly with Granger; strangely relieving, like a weight had been lifted off his shoulders "I trust you Malfoy" she said quietly. Kingsley coughed loudly "listen we've been planning for hours now Hermione, you look tired, I'll have Minerva send everyone to bed and yes, I'll call in some Aurors to guard inside and out of every dorm" she nodded and breathed out deeply, her eyes were getting heavy "I'll meet you up there Granger" Ron scowled again at the thought of them sharing a dorm and she shook her head "I'm not needed down here anymore, I'll come with you" Ron seethed and stared at the floor.

Hermione stood up at the same time as Malfoy but staggered struggling to catch her balance. She felt her eyes droop even more "oh for god sake Granger you can't walk like that" Malfoy caught her round the waist and steadied her, making sure that she didn't fall again. "I'll carry her" Ron butted in, glaring jealously at Malfoy "don't be ridiculous Ron I am perfectly fine on my feet, I was just a little disorientated that's all" Ron nodded impassively at her and she leaned as far over the table as she possibly could "I love you" she said and he smiled as convincingly as he could, casting a warning look at Malfoy as he led Hermione out of the hall just as McGonagall stood up at the front and started to usher the students back to their house tables.


	6. Chapter 6

Half way up to their common room, Hermione's weight was being mostly supported by Malfoy. She had her arm around his shoulder and he was holding her upright easily. He nudged her again when her eyes drooped shut and she jerked awake again "bloody hell Granger how come your so tired its only like six in the evening" she looked drunk and her words were slurred but just about understandable "Roooonnnn" she said quietly; normally he would have smirked and made an extremely childish comment about this but something stopped him, it wasn't a good feeling but he couldn't work out exactly what it was because of how emotionally dumb he was.

He said the password with a hint of urgency in his voice. By then Hermione had fallen completely to sleep and he had to make a choice whether to leave her out in the corridor or carry her. He picked her up bridal style and climbed easily through the portrait hole. He jogged over to the longest sofa and laid her down carefully; He then went quickly to the kitchen, casted a heating charm and poured them both big mugs of hot Coffey.

Malfoy put the mugs on the Coffey table and crouched down so he was level with her face. He felt something at that moment, warmth filled the pit of his stomach and the sight of her elegant face touched his soul. At that moment he felt something he never in a million years thought he'd feel for Hermione Granger. She was the most beautiful creature on the planet to him at that single moment in time. He sighed and finally accepted that he felt something for Granger.

He reached out and stroked her cheek with the side of his finger and pushed the hair away from her face. Her eyes flickered open and she sat up abruptly. "Malfoy, when did we get back?" he chuckled "you really don't remember anything?" she frowned "no... oh god, what did I do?" he laughed and waved her down "you fell asleep on your feet, just outside the portrait actually, you were only napping for a few minutes after I put you down on the sofa, you want some Coffey?" she smiled suspiciously "alright Malfoy, what's the catch, how come your being so nice?" he smirked, passing her a mug and watching her drink deeply for a minute. He realised he was still crouching in front of her and he got up, collapsing into a seat on the sofa next to her "maybe I just can't be assed to fight you any more Granger" she smiled kindly, like she could see right through him "what did I say when I was turning into sleeping ugly then" he frowned "you didn't say anything but don't call yourself ugly" she raised her eyebrows "why not?" he smiled crookedly, making Hermione jump when she felt tingles in her stomach "because you must realise that your fit Granger" she blushed but laughed mockingly "Malfoy really are you sure Ginny didn't hit you with some foreign jinx when you were duelling?" he laughed "actually you did say something. When I asked you why you were so tired your eyes drooped and you said 'Roooonnnn' it was quite funny actually" she groaned and resisted the urge to stamp her foot "just be glad you didn't go into too much deal about your sex life" she looked irritated by this comment "oh will you stop talking about my sex life, my god damn sex life doesn't exist" he frowned again, turning his body toward her so he could talk to her properly "Granger... are you... are you a virgin?" she wasn't stunned at his question at all, it was the fact that he had said her first name, it caught her off guard "Granger" he said, waving his hand in front of her face "um ...yeah" she said quietly, staring into her mug "what are you looking all awkward for Granger, its fine, most girls in our year are" she looked sideways at him "really?" he smirked "well, the girls that don't know me yeah" she made a pretend urging noise "no but seriously haven't you even talked about it with Weasley?" she looked uncomfortable but when she looked at him, he was staring at her with such conviction and understanding that she felt as though she could tell him anything "no, Ron isn't very tactful, he shies away from awkward conversations" Malfoy frowned and tapped her on the knee "well if you don't talk about it, its never. Going. To. Happen" she rolled her eyes "and how the bloody hell do I do that, 'hey Ron, I'm eighteen and I'm still a virgin, why don't you have it as a birthday gift" they both laughed at that and imagined the look on Ron's face "so what you don't want him to be your first?" she looked thoughtful "Its not that its just sometimes I get the feeling he loves me more than I love him" Draco frowned and tried to look understanding when inside he was grinning "well don't you think that you should be on the same page if he's going to steal your purity?" she smiled at his use of words, remembering a book she had been reading earlier. A couple were discussing the exact same thing and the man had used the same word, steal.

"I trust him and I am in love with him but I always got the feeling that he is already at the stage of imagining our wedding and what our kids would look like" Malfoy smirked "and your not there yet?" she sighed and shook her head "No I'm not. I mean I love him and I hope we do have some sort of future, I just like having that part of my life undecided you know, this sounds really bad but I like having the option of being with other guys. Now every time he asks me a question, I'm terrified he's going to propose" Malfoy chuckled "yeah I could imagine Weasley getting down on one knee and then that awkward silence when you say no" she shuddered at the thought of getting married so young.

"So do you want to do the whole 'spend my life with you' bullshit then?" she frowned, biting her lip "I love him but there is something missing... I don't think he's the one" Draco looked concerned "well, shouldn't you dump him then. You know to do the whole 'I don't want to break his heart' routine" she looked down at her hands "yeah, I've known it for a while but I like being this close to him too much and I really don't want to hurt him" Malfoy smiled childishly "I'll do it for you if you like" she laughed again and patted his knee.

"No for some reason I think that's a job for the girlfriend don't you?" he nodded sarcastically "yeah I think so too" she smiled and put her empty cup on the table "right, I'm gonna get ready, brush my teeth and go to bed" he nodded "good plan batman" she chuckled "batman is a muggle superhero Draco" he cocked his eyebrows and lifted his chin "oh" she chuckled again, ruffling his hair and standing up.

Malfoy went to his room and stripped down to his boxers, coming back out again and going to the bathroom to wash his face and do his teeth but Hermione was already in there, brushing her hair in the mirror. She was wearing a vest and a pair of girl's boxers. He leaned against the doorpost "hey Granger" she jumped out of her skin and smacked his arm hard, clutching her chest for support "don't do that to me Draco" he was bending over laughing at the face she had made "stop it it's not funny" she whined, smacking him again "ow woman that hurt" she made a 'serves you right' face "right, that's it" he shot forward but she ducked, laughing and running out of the bathroom and into the living room, they climbed over the sofas until eventually he caught her round the waist, digging his fingers in and making her collapse onto the sofa laughing uncontrollably, Malfoy stood on the Coffey table, lifting his arms up in the air "ooh yeah ten points to the death eater" they were both laughing after that, Hermione heard Ron knocking on the portrait and she shouted for the painting to let him in.

Ron froze when he stepped over the threshold watching his worst nightmare play out before his eyes, Hermione was rolling about on the sofa laughing and Malfoy was pounding his fist on the floor in triumph "UGGH! Put some clothes on Malfoy" Hermione looked up trying to hiccough herself back to normal and catch her breath "ooh you know you fantasise about me really Ronald" he said in his best Hermione voice, making her laugh even more "Hermione, can I talk to you for a second, in your room" Malfoy smirked evilly "ah are you having that conversation we discussed Miss Granger" she waggled her finger at him like he was a naughty school boy "sorry, my dorm doesn't let boys up, you'll have to say it now" Ron looked furious and glared at Hermione "what?" she asked, trying to look innocent. He looked like he could explode with anger and jealousy "what the bloody hell is wrong now Ron?" she asked, the after affects of her laughter could still be heard in her voice "can you ask the ferret to give us a moment please?" Ron asked her through gritted teeth "Oh for god's sake Ron you'll have to get over this stupid jealousy thing, its tiring me out. Alright, fine, Draco, scarper for a few minutes okay, you can brush your teeth in a second" Draco looked from Ron to Hermione "you sure you'll be okay?" she nodded in appreciation of his concern "yeah yeah, I'll see you in a second" Draco shot Ron a warning look and disappeared behind his bedroom door.

"What the hell is going on?" Ron asked her, hissing every word venomously "OH my god I cannot do this every time I talk to another boy Ron, I can't deal with it" he clicked, the time on the bomb had run out and he exploded into a rage, making Hermione wince "SO WHAT DO YOU EXPECT ME TO DO WHEN YOU HIT ON EVERY OTHER BOY YOU TALK TO" Hermione looked furious "stop fucking shouting your being paranoid again" he rolled his eyes in anger and turned around, punching the wall "I can't do this anymore Ron. You can't keep accusing of all this bullshi..." "SHUT UP YOUR ACCUSING ME OF BEING POSSESIVE AND PARANOID" she looked livid "that's because you are" he walked slowly toward her; she backed off "RON! Ron your scaring me stop it, STOP IT!" he slapped her across the face and she fell to the floor with the force of the blow. Draco ran back into the room and saw her on the floor. He launched himself at Ron but she grabbed his ankle tightly, he looked down at her "I'm fine, don't hurt him just get him out" Ron was trying to punch Malfoy but he kept ducking. Malfoy grabbed Ron by the collar and threw him through the portrait hole, slamming the painting shut.

"You okay?" he asked, helping her into a sitting position on the armchair "I... I think so" she stuttered, a look of complete shock on her face. She had a line of blood trickling down her red cheek from where she'd hit her head on the table "has that bastard ever hurt you before?" he asked seriously, anger coating his words "n...no... he's...I don't... I don't understand" Draco shushed her, everything was so strange, a week or two ago he hated Hermione Granger now he was comforting her because her boyfriend had hit her; the school was under threat again and he was best friends with Ginny Weasley. He knew now, he didn't need rules or discipline or his mother's guidelines to make him a better person, all he needed was Ginny, Hermione and maybe even Potter, even they were kind of friends now.

He took both of Hermione's hands in his own, trying to stop them from shaking "what was that about anyway?" a single tear spilled over her unblinking eyes and fell silently down her devastatingly beautiful face "he's possessive. I think its just because I'm getting along with you and he feels threatened by you" Draco looked furious "what so he cuts your head open just because I'm not being an evil git any more" she tried to smile but it just made another few tear-drops drip quickly down her face. Draco sighed "do you want me to call for Potter?" she drew in a sharp intake of breath and swallowed hard.

She closed her eyes and nodded. Draco pulled himself up, squeezing her hand affectionately before letting go and opening the portrait hole slightly. He sent a patronus to Harry telling him to come quickly. Draco closed the painting again and went to sit on the floor; his back against the sofa his head level with her knees.

* * *

Harry was out to blow out the fire in the Gryffindor common room when he heard a loud knocking coming from outside the painting that guarded their dorms and living quarters. He shouted to the Aurors that Kingsley had put their as part of tightened security to let whoever it was in. As soon as the hole opened, a silvery snake slithered through the room, climbing up the sofa leg so it was level with Harry's slightly amused face "really, what now Malfoy?" the snake opened its mouth and spoke in the concerned voice of Draco Malfoy "there's been an incident with Weasley, Hermione's asking for you and Ginny" Harry jumped into action at once, shouting up the stairs of the sixth year girls dorms for Ginny to come down straight away.

* * *

Ten minutes later Harry was practically dragging Ginny along the stone corridors by her hand "Harry, wait up aren't you gonna tell me what the bloody hell is going on. Why are you pulling me along the fifth floor at ten o'clock at night in my dressing gown?" Harry grunted and stopped abruptly outside the heads picture "Amor" he said, panting a little bit. Hermione looked up, tears still streaming down her cheeks. Harry rushed to her side straight away and sat down next to her, hugging her tightly. Ginny stood in the door way looking furious "Draco, what the bloody hell happened, why is she bleeding so heavily, can't you take her to Madame P or something?" Draco shock his head, pulling himself up and walking over to Ginny "she wouldn't let me the only thing I could think to do was call you and Harry" Ginny looked angry and confused "so what happened?" Malfoy ran his fingers through is bleach blonde hair, making it ruffled and causing it to stick up.

"We were messing around and she was laughing because I was tickling her and she let your bastard brother in. he tells me to go out of the room. Next thing I know I hear her scream and she's on the floor, he's stood above her with his hand in the air like he just hit her. I was about to smash the shit out of him before she stopped me .So in the end I just ended up throwing him out. That's all I could do, she was a complete mes..." but he was cut off, Ginny had turned and ran out of the hole. Draco didn't care that he was only still in his boxers, he ran after her.

Harry stood up and walked Hermione after them, they were both in deep shock and none of them could believe that their Ron, their very best friend could do something so... so not Ron.


	7. Chapter 7

Ginny Weasley was speed walking through the first floor corridor. Her vibrant red hair flowing behind her in the wind she was creating by the speed of her body. Ginny was thin and tall coming to only a few centimetres below Harry's height. Her hair fell in naturally straight layers around her face and shoulders coming to just below her waist. Her skin was paleish and soft looking with a stunning hint of transparency to it. Her lips were plump and also a cherry colour red, clashing brilliantly with both hair and complexion.

Her long legs made quick work of the ground and she tried counting her steps and Malfoy's slightly rapid breathing from not many paces behind her, to calm her down. It didn't work, she was to god damn angry with her brother to even bother with pointless math or concentration skills at that precise moment.

She sensed a group behind her, most probably Malfoy, Hermione and Harry but she couldn't be sure. She didn't want to risk turning around, knowing they would try to convince to her to be rational, or maybe they wouldn't. Maybe her boyfriend wanted to hit her brother just as much as she did and Malfoy was close, he could grab her; but he didn't even reach out for her, he was putting most of his efforts into keeping up with her.

She got to the door she was looking for and went to grab the handle a bit to enthusiastically, it was locked and she sprained her wrist. She backed off, hunching in pain and holding her arm, swearing very loudly.

She stood back to height, watching Draco trying to kick the door open "It's no use, he's locked it with magic, you can't use physical force" Hermione said shakily, watching Ginny pull out her wand Draco had started hitting it but she raised her voice urgently "dammit Draco move your arse" he immediately moved, looking frightened of how angry Ginny really was "BOMARDA" she screeched and the door smashed into pieces as if hit by an invisible hurricane. She didn't even wait for the dust to clear, she shot into the room and had hit Ron with an almighty right hook before any of them had the chance to follow.

Ron fell to the floor with a yelp, he was rubbing the side of his face and stared at Ginny in complete shock. He had a bloody lip and Ginny went to hit him again but Draco grabbed her arms, pulling her back "you know you'll regret it in the morning" he muttered in her ear and she struggled a little bit more before reluctantly relaxing in his strong grasp.

"YEAH, NOT NICE IS IT? HAVING SOMEONE YOU TRUST WITH EVERYTHING THAT YOU ARE SMACK YOU ACROSS THE FUCKING FACE" Ron looked ashamed, angry, tired and freaked out. He stood up, limping on his leg that was bleeding; he'd whacked it hard on the corner of a sink when he was falling.

Was breathing heavily "this isn't your fight" her eyes widened maliciously "THERE SHOULDN'T BE FUCKING FIGHT IN THE FIRST PLACE" Ron looked around at their audience, noting Malfoy was still just in boxers and Hermione still in her vest and knickers "I'm sorry" he said with so much conviction and sadness, he stared deep into Hermione's eyes sorrowfully. She looked at him with her eyebrows arched downward, her eyelids were narrow and her head was tilted to the side. Tears were streaming down her face and her lips were turned up in what would have been a smile had the situation been different "that's exactly it, I know you are and I don't feel any different" he looked confused this time "what do you mean?"Ginny asked, turning her head but her eyes stayed on her brother fiercely.

"I was talking to Draco earlier and I realised that no matter how many times I say it, it will never be true" Ron's heart froze momentarily before thudding unevenly and speeding up, tears rose in his own eyes "I can't do this anymore, It's to god damn hard" she sobbed, staring at him still. Harry put his arm around her shoulders but she shrugged off the touch and stepped forward so the conversation was a direct line between Hermione and Ron.

"See, before today I thought so much that I was in love. I worked so hard at convincing myself that I was and I actually believed the lie. I thought that I was with you not because I felt sorry for you or because I didn't want to hurt you, I was with you because you made me happy; and for a little while you did. These last few days you've turned into someone that I really don't want to be with, I can't be in a relationship when you love me more than I love you. You're possessive and angry and sometimes you truly are amazing. But god Ron, you make it so, darn hard to love you"

He stared at her in complete shock, like Ginny had punched him in the face again. His eyes widened and tears spilled out down the nasty big bruise now forming around his eye lid. He stumbled backward into the wall and she sighed, closing her eyes, the tiredness creeping back into her brain, fighting off the caffeine and leading her into another stupor.

"What made you realise?" Ron asked sternly and deeply, he wiped the tears away impatiently and pushed forward away from the cold bricks making him shiver even more then he already was.

"Mostly the look on your face when you came in to our common room earlier, we were only messing about and you completely lost it, as soon as you saw that I was comfortable in the presence of another male. I mean for god sakes you flinch every time _Harry_ touches me and you know were like brother and sister"

Ron looked like he was trying to process everything at once; his eyes lost their train of thought and fixated themselves to the floor.

"I won't bother defending myself because I know I'll get about five hexes hitting me in the face so what I will say, all I can say is I truly am sorry, I was a jerk and even if it makes no difference now; it was always you. From the annoying little girl who told me I had dirt on my nose to the woman stood in front of me today, I always loved you and I always will" she turned at this point, burying her face in the crook of Ginny's neck while she sobbed.

Ron's jaw twitched and he looked at Harry blankly "yeah whatever, I forgive you, someone has to but it doesn't mean I won't kill you if it ever happens again" Ron nodded and pushed passed Draco, his hand brushing Hermione's shaking shoulders before he disappeared into the dark corridor.

"Come one Malfoy, you need to get her back to her dorm, were way past curfew" Draco nodded and took Hermione away from Ginny, leading her out of the room and clasping her tightly, feeling her tears falling on his bare chest. She drifted a little and her feet started to drag so he scooped her legs from underneath her and carried her as fast as he could to their dorms. She snuggled her head into his shoulder and he felt her breath slow against his skin, he knew she was finally asleep.


	8. Chapter 8

"What are you talking about of course we need the centaurs we need all the bloody help we can get" Ron ranted, slamming his hand down on the table and making Hermione jump "don't you think were blowing this out of proportion? I mean its nowhere as big as the last war" Hermione turned her head irritably at the unknown speaker and scowled realising it was Pansy Parkison hugging Draco tightly, a ridiculously bimbo-ish look plastered over her foundation covered face.

"Parkison that is exactly what people said about the last war and the one before that and so on, really, use your useless air filled head, of course its big, we are always going to have things like this pop up now and again. Look at Hitler, everyone hates him but there are still people who try to uphold his sick idea of piece and purity" everyone around her frowned and she rolled her eyes, groaning in frustration "don't worry about Hitler, all I'm saying is we thought we were blowing it out of proportion last time and look where it fucking got us! Half the muggle born population are dead" Pansy looked offended and looked up at Draco expectantly "well... she called me airhead! Are you really going to let her talk to me like that? I am love of your life" she cocked her eyebrows and held him tighter.

Draco took a deep breath looking as though he was trying to calm himself and prised Pansy's skinny arms from around his middle. Hurt covered her rather ugly, pig like face and she turned her head away from him, pretending to hide tears to make him feel guilty. He mimed pulling his hair out and the sides of Hermione's mouth twitched before she turned back to Harry who was leaned over fifty different pieces of parchment with a quill in his hand.

Harry's hair was scruffy and boyishly styled as usual and his glasses where pressed right up to the top of his nose, beads of sweat were forming on his forehead and his knuckles were going white from holding the quill too tightly. Ginny was rubbing his back, trying to soothe him and it seemed to be working because he dropped the quill and wiped his head, looking around at his friends and acquaintances.

"Ron, will you sit down, your leg is so obviously killing you; Pansy, leave, you're not much help no offence but Hermione will kill you. Stop murmuring will you please, whoever it is, you're doing my head in, watch, listen, speak up if you really have to but please don't murmur" he said the list slightly shakily but otherwise calm.

Pansy's eyes narrowed and she walked away, cursing loudly until she left the hall, nobody watched her leave.

"Right, back to Ron's point, we do need centaurs Blaise if we don't let them fight with us, they'll go to whoever is running this secret organisation" Blaise looked a bit ticked off but otherwise let the subject drop. For hours after that they talked and planned and argued and made decisions. In the end they had a finale of three sheets of final draft plans. It had several different security precautions, their entire political strategy; they planned to try and infiltrate the unknown group of supposedly rogue deatheaters, names and groups, Aurors marked for protection and muggle homes and communities that would be most likely to be targeted.

Little did they know that sending Pansy away could have been the biggest mistake they'd ever made.

* * *

Pansy Parkison strutted angrily across the school grounds in search of someone to insult or potentially glue herself to for the following months before their 'big fight'. She didn't see why they had to fight, her solution right from the start had always been to give the opposition whatever they wanted; Potter. In her mind if they were nice to whoever had made the threat then they would be, for the minute, okay.

She wasn't really bothered about this stupid fight thing anyway; the thing that was getting her blood boiling more than anything else was that buck toothed mudblood whore Hermione Granger. Pansy had observed the way her Drakey had been staring at the beaver and she wasn't happy. Pansy knew that she would have to resort to desperate measures eventually if she was going to keep her Drakeypoo completely and utterly infatuated with her, like he always had been before he had started his pathetic 'better person' scheme, before he had started to fall for that... that... she couldn't even find the word for the disgusting disgrace to the name of wizard. Of course, Pansy had never really been totally into the whole muggle hating stuff that the dark lord had cooked up for the last seven years; but seeing Draco, Pansy's Draco, staring at that bitch like he was in love with her or something; made her want to join these rogue deatheater people just so she could wipe that annoyingly beautiful smile off of Granger's face.

As if someone had heard her thoughts, a man spoke from behind her, making her jump and turn around fast, whipping her wand out; a pointless defence in Pansy's case because she only knew the basics of magic to get her by in life, she had no idea how to duel "why the long face? Their pathetic creatures aren't they, Mudbloods?" Pansy frowned, still holding her wand up to the man's neck. "Who are you?" she asked, trying to sound braver than she really was.

"That doesn't matter to you. But the Malfoy boy does doesn't him? He likes the mudblood and he's phasing you out of his life isn't he?" she pressed her wand firmer against his throat, he winced slightly at the force of the pressure but he looked unafraid of her "how do you know about that?" she asked, her eyes prickling but trying to stop them tearing up. She blinked, trying to dry her eyes. "You better go, someone will see you" she said, lowering her wand, deciding that the man had a point and that he was harmless; to her anyway. She stowed her wand away in her robe and looked shiftily back up at the castle "their too wrapped up in themselves to give a flying fuck about you aren't they?" the man pressed on and she was growing impatient with his constant questions "you need to go, someone will find you" she said quietly staring at the grass.

Her knotty brown bob of hair blew with the wind and she shivered, wrapping her arms around herself "are you lonel..." but the man was cut off, a spell hit him straight in the chest and Pansy's head whipped around to look for the caster. She didn't really need to look, Potter, Weasley, Granger and, with a thud of Pansy's heart, Draco.

"Who is he?" Harry asked her urgently when they got to the man. Harry bent down and checked for a pulse. He nodded to himself, apparently answering his own thought "I don't know, he told me it didn't matter. There was no need to shoot him, he looked perfectly okay to me" Hermione tutted and rolled her eyes but Draco looked worried "Potter, are you thinking what I'm thinking?" Harry stood up to full height and nodded "It's a decoy; they knew we'd get him. It's unlikely we'll get anything out of him; they probably just sent him to get more followers. Parkison what did he say to you?" she breathed out moodily and shivered again as another gust of wind hit them. She rolled her tongue to the front of her mouth and placed in front of her teeth, pushing her bottom lip out casually "not much, just kept asking me questions, he seemed to know what I was thinking but I've never seen him before. He knew about what I've been feeling for Drakeypoo and my hate for the mudblood" the girly, sickly essence crept back into her monotoned voice. Several people moved forward a bit when she said mudblood and Draco hissed at her, looking venomous. Pansy felt a deep pain in her heart at the way Draco was glaring at her, like she had just killed his dog or something. She went to grab his hand but he pulled away and looked at her with even more hate.

"Okay, calm it guys. Parkison if I ever hear you call Hermione that again I'll have you shipped straight off to Azkaban" she narrowed her eyes and laughed coldly "you're not the minister Potter, you don't have the power and besides, the cells are full anyway, you won't send me away for using a simple word" he smiled at her, making everyone frown "do you want to tell the minister what you just said?" he asked, stretching out a hand towards the castle. She went quiet and stared at the ground.

"I didn't think so. Right, Malfoy, levitate this guy while we walk, and hurry, all of you. There is a good chance this could be just a distraction" Malfoy sighed and took out his wand, flicking it lazily and putting his hand lightly on Hermione's back to lead her quickly up to Hogwarts with the rest of them. Pansy walked, defeated, at the back of the group, grunting about unfairness and her 'Drakey' turning against her. Pansy glanced sideways at Granger, feeling anger consuming her reasonable nature and causing her to spit on the ground.

She would not let this lie; no one stole Pansy's Drakey and got away with it, no one.


	9. Chapter 9

"What are you talking about of course we need the centaurs we need all the bloody help we can get" Ron ranted, slamming his hand down on the table and making Hermione jump "don't you think were blowing this out of proportion? I mean its nowhere as big as the last war" Hermione turned her head irritably at the unknown speaker and scowled realising it was Pansy Parkison hugging Draco tightly, a ridiculously bimbo-ish look plastered over her foundation covered face.

"Parkison that is exactly what people said about the last war and the one before that and so on, really, use your useless air filled head, of course its big, we are always going to have things like this pop up now and again. Look at Hitler, everyone hates him but there are still people who try to uphold his sick idea of piece and purity" everyone around her frowned and she rolled her eyes, groaning in frustration "don't worry about Hitler, all I'm saying is we thought we were blowing it out of proportion last time and look where it fucking got us! Half the muggle born population are dead" Pansy looked offended and looked up at Draco expectantly "well... she called me airhead! Are you really going to let her talk to me like that? I am love of your life" she cocked her eyebrows and held him tighter.

Draco took a deep breath looking as though he was trying to calm himself and prised Pansy's skinny arms from around his middle. Hurt covered her rather ugly, pig like face and she turned her head away from him, pretending to hide tears to make him feel guilty. He mimed pulling his hair out and the sides of Hermione's mouth twitched before she turned back to Harry who was leaned over fifty different pieces of parchment with a quill in his hand.

Harry's hair was scruffy and boyishly styled as usual and his glasses where pressed right up to the top of his nose, beads of sweat were forming on his forehead and his knuckles were going white from holding the quill too tightly. Ginny was rubbing his back, trying to soothe him and it seemed to be working because he dropped the quill and wiped his head, looking around at his friends and acquaintances.

"Ron, will you sit down, your leg is so obviously killing you; Pansy, leave, you're not much help no offence but Hermione will kill you. Stop murmuring will you please, whoever it is, you're doing my head in, watch, listen, speak up if you really have to but please don't murmur" he said the list slightly shakily but otherwise calm.

Pansy's eyes narrowed and she walked away, cursing loudly until she left the hall, nobody watched her leave.

"Right, back to Ron's point, we do need centaurs Blaise if we don't let them fight with us, they'll go to whoever is running this secret organisation" Blaise looked a bit ticked off but otherwise let the subject drop. For hours after that they talked and planned and argued and made decisions. In the end they had a finale of three sheets of final draft plans. It had several different security precautions, their entire political strategy; they planned to try and infiltrate the unknown group of supposedly rogue deatheaters, names and groups, Aurors marked for protection and muggle homes and communities that would be most likely to be targeted.

Little did they know that sending Pansy away could have been the biggest mistake they'd ever made.

* * *

Pansy Parkison strutted angrily across the school grounds in search of someone to insult or potentially glue herself to for the following months before their 'big fight'. She didn't see why they had to fight, her solution right from the start had always been to give the opposition whatever they wanted; Potter. In her mind if they were nice to whoever had made the threat then they would be, for the minute, okay.

She wasn't really bothered about this stupid fight thing anyway; the thing that was getting her blood boiling more than anything else was that buck toothed mudblood whore Hermione Granger. Pansy had observed the way her Drakey had been staring at the beaver and she wasn't happy. Pansy knew that she would have to resort to desperate measures eventually if she was going to keep her Drakeypoo completely and utterly infatuated with her, like he always had been before he had started his pathetic 'better person' scheme, before he had started to fall for that... that... she couldn't even find the word for the disgusting disgrace to the name of wizard. Of course, Pansy had never really been totally into the whole muggle hating stuff that the dark lord had cooked up for the last seven years; but seeing Draco, Pansy's Draco, staring at that bitch like he was in love with her or something; made her want to join these rogue deatheater people just so she could wipe that annoyingly beautiful smile off of Granger's face.

As if someone had heard her thoughts, a man spoke from behind her, making her jump and turn around fast, whipping her wand out; a pointless defence in Pansy's case because she only knew the basics of magic to get her by in life, she had no idea how to duel "why the long face? Their pathetic creatures aren't they, Mudbloods?" Pansy frowned, still holding her wand up to the man's neck. "Who are you?" she asked, trying to sound braver than she really was.

"That doesn't matter to you. But the Malfoy boy does doesn't him? He likes the mudblood and he's phasing you out of his life isn't he?" she pressed her wand firmer against his throat, he winced slightly at the force of the pressure but he looked unafraid of her "how do you know about that?" she asked, her eyes prickling but trying to stop them tearing up. She blinked, trying to dry her eyes. "You better go, someone will see you" she said, lowering her wand, deciding that the man had a point and that he was harmless; to her anyway. She stowed her wand away in her robe and looked shiftily back up at the castle "their too wrapped up in themselves to give a flying fuck about you aren't they?" the man pressed on and she was growing impatient with his constant questions "you need to go, someone will find you" she said quietly staring at the grass.

Her knotty brown bob of hair blew with the wind and she shivered, wrapping her arms around herself "are you lonel..." but the man was cut off, a spell hit him straight in the chest and Pansy's head whipped around to look for the caster. She didn't really need to look, Potter, Weasley, Granger and, with a thud of Pansy's heart, Draco.

"Who is he?" Harry asked her urgently when they got to the man. Harry bent down and checked for a pulse. He nodded to himself, apparently answering his own thought "I don't know, he told me it didn't matter. There was no need to shoot him, he looked perfectly okay to me" Hermione tutted and rolled her eyes but Draco looked worried "Potter, are you thinking what I'm thinking?" Harry stood up to full height and nodded "It's a decoy; they knew we'd get him. It's unlikely we'll get anything out of him; they probably just sent him to get more followers. Parkison what did he say to you?" she breathed out moodily and shivered again as another gust of wind hit them. She rolled her tongue to the front of her mouth and placed in front of her teeth, pushing her bottom lip out casually "not much, just kept asking me questions, he seemed to know what I was thinking but I've never seen him before. He knew about what I've been feeling for Drakeypoo and my hate for the mudblood" the girly, sickly essence crept back into her monotoned voice. Several people moved forward a bit when she said mudblood and Draco hissed at her, looking venomous. Pansy felt a deep pain in her heart at the way Draco was glaring at her, like she had just killed his dog or something. She went to grab his hand but he pulled away and looked at her with even more hate.

"Okay, calm it guys. Parkison if I ever hear you call Hermione that again I'll have you shipped straight off to Azkaban" she narrowed her eyes and laughed coldly "you're not the minister Potter, you don't have the power and besides, the cells are full anyway, you won't send me away for using a simple word" he smiled at her, making everyone frown "do you want to tell the minister what you just said?" he asked, stretching out a hand towards the castle. She went quiet and stared at the ground.

"I didn't think so. Right, Malfoy, levitate this guy while we walk, and hurry, all of you. There is a good chance this could be just a distraction" Malfoy sighed and took out his wand, flicking it lazily and putting his hand lightly on Hermione's back to lead her quickly up to Hogwarts with the rest of them. Pansy walked, defeated, at the back of the group, grunting about unfairness and her 'Drakey' turning against her. Pansy glanced sideways at Granger, feeling anger consuming her reasonable nature and causing her to spit on the ground.

She would not let this lie; no one stole Pansy's Drakey and got away with it, no one.


	10. Chapter 10

"So what do you think, did we waist the last six hours planning pointlessly?" he called from the kitchen while she brushed her teeth in the bathroom. He heard her spit and tap her toothbrush on the corner of the sink to get the water out of the bristles, putting it back in their little glass cup where their toothbrushes sat together with the toothpaste.

Draco didn't know why but he got some small satisfaction of seeing their toothbrushes sitting together, a red and a green one, living together in harmony for the first time. When he had voiced this to Hermione before she had chuckled and smiled "you got all that from a toothbrush?" he smirked, remembering the conversation and the gorgeous smile on her beautiful face.

"Well, I don't know. I just think that it's good that we're prepared if anything does happen" her voice got louder as he heard her waling out of the bathroom and entering the common room. He set his empty tea cup on the marble counter and followed suit.

He was in jogging bottoms and an old t-shirt this time and she was in a vest and some muggle pyjama shorts and a vest. She looked up at him and smiled widely, gesturing him to some and sit beside her. When he collapsed onto the sofa next to her, she curled into him and rested the back of her head on his chest. He put his arm out and rested it on the back of the sofa.

"What are you reading?" he asked sounding genuinely interested "it's a muggle love story called Vince and Joy. It's kind of heartbreaking but it has a great ending" he smirked "you've read it before then" he predicted and he felt her nod against his torso. He chuckled "what is it about then?" she closed it and placed it on the table neatly. She leaned back and cuddled into him properly, he hugged her tightly, pulling his new best friend closer, grateful for her calming body contact.

"Two eighteen year olds that meet at a caravan park. Vince is in his first summer after having an operation to get rid of his under bite. Technically it's the first time he's ever been good looking. Joy, is a messed up teenager who had a nervous breakdown at her art college audition through all the years of keeping her father's affair a secret. They are both starting new lives and when they meet, they are forced into buggering off while their parents get dinner. They get pissed and end up on the beach. They kiss and it's extremely intense, like they've been waiting for each other their whole entire life. Anyway, they get together for like three days and they have this joint family barbecue, they wonder off into some field on the outskirts of the town and end up losing their virginity to each other, that night their parents argue and there's a fight after Joys dad tries it on with Vince's mum. Vince's step dad breaks Joy's dad's nose. Joy leaves the next day, leaving a not to Vince outside his caravan. They go off and lead other lives until their like 38 and then boom, at the end they come together again" she finished, looking up at him, worried she'd embarrassed herself by going into too much detail, but she was surprised when he looked totally absorbed in everything that she was saying.

His blonde hair was sticking up again and he smiled at her, reassuringly, obviously seeing the worried look in her eyes. She felt a pang in her heart as it skipped a beat, her legs were tingling and her stomach was buzzing with butterflies. He could make all this happen just by looking at her. She supposed that it had always been there, the spark. Just in the form of anger and resentment. Now they were friends, it had intensified beyond belief. She broke their gaze, realising that their faces were nearly touching. She adjusted herself on the sofa so she was sitting up properly and leaned her head back on the cushion supporting her spine.

He sighed, staring at the ceiling "do you ever just go on impulse Granger?" she pretended she hadn't heard him and kept her eyes closed, well aware that she had spoiled the moment. "So you're not talking now" he muttered, getting up to leave. He had taken three steps toward his dorm before he felt her presence behind him. Her warm hand clasped tightly around his wrist and pulled, making him turn to face her "what?" he asked in an off-hand tone. She stared at him as though she was fighting a battle with herself, he could see her brain working overload and he saw it in her face. He shook his head and went to turn away again; he nearly yelped in shock when she grabbed him and kissed him firmly and quickly, pulling away after a split second.

It was enough to send a shiver down his entire body, tingling at his fingertips. All his blood was buzzing crazily inside him and he felt something he hadn't felt in a very long time; he felt warm. He couldn't stop it any more; he walked forward so she was forced to walk back into the nearest wall.

Their lips brushed for and intense second before they were kissing passionately, battling it out for domination but none of them was winning. Seven years of built up emotion came pouring out into the kiss, her hands wondered over his torso, under his t-shirt, up into his hair, pulling slightly at the roots. He wrapped his arms around her waist tightly, pulling her impossibly close. He ran his tongue along her bottom lip and then into her mouth. He she groaned, making him smile into it, encouraging him to carry on. She jumped up, wrapping her legs around his waist and he dropped one hand to her thigh to support her.

He twirled them around so him own back was against the wall and they slid down it as the kissed slowed down and became sensual as they slowly mapped out eachothers mouth, memorising. His buttocks hit the floor and she was sat against him with one leg on either side of his body. They broke apart and leaned their foreheads together, gasping for breath and waiting for their heart beats to slow down.

"You have no idea how long I've wanted to do that" he gasped and she chuckled, kissing him quickly again. She closed her eyes, breathing in his sent and laughing to herself, remembering her stupidity when she thought she could smell Ron's de-oderant in the love potion. She knew now, being so close to him, kissing him, she had smelt Draco's de-oderant and she felt him frown "don't worry, just remembering something ironic" he relaxed his face muscles and closed his eyes when his heart was back to normal.

They wanted to stay there forever, locked in their warm embrace. Hermione knew now that whatever she had with Ron, would never in a million years come close to what she had with Draco.

She backed up off and away from Draco, standing up and pulling him with her. She staggered, still dizzy and light headed from their kiss and he caught her once again, before she fell. "I bet your getting bored of catching me now aren't you?" she said, catching her balance and wrapping her arms around him again. She hugged him so tightly; they both could have sworn they felt their ribs crush. She kept this hold on him, making him move forward and he felt the backs of his legs hit the sofa and they both collapsed onto it, Draco taking the force of the hit.

"I still hate you though" she whispered, making him laugh from underneath her "yeah sure, cos that was so an 'I hate you' gesture wasn't it Granger" she smiled at him "shut it Malfoy" he smiled that crooked smile and she felt another shiver run through her body.

"By the way, I love what that smile does to you" she frowned but smirked at the same time "I don't know what you're talking about" she said unconvincingly "Hermione I know you've been a sucker for that smile since our first day back" she rolled her eyes and smiled "you got me" she said in mock defeat.

"Draco, when does your father come out of prison?" she asked, kissing him again. She broke away tenderly and he sighed, lifting a hand from around her waist and stroking the side of her face with the side of his finger "sorry, what was the question?" he asked dumbly. She giggled and leaned their heads together again, her hair falling over them like a blanket, shielding them from the outside world.

"When does Lucius come out of Azkaban" she said, more softly this time but still inquisitive "I'm not sure, why do you ask?" he said, she sighed and smiled sadly "if there is a fight, what side do you think he'll take?" Draco closed his eyes, intoxicated by her touch. He loved the feel of her pressed up against him, it made him feel complete, like she was all he needed in the world. "I'm not sure, that one of the amazing things about my father, he always surprises me" Hermione looked sad and all of a sudden, tears sprang up in her eyes. He felt a small pang of pain shoot through his previously black heart. He wiped the tear away before it could fall and hit his face. "What's the matter Hermione?" he asked gently, sounding confused and panicked.

"I'm being silly really. It's just, my father was the opposite. He was so readable, maybe it had something to do with our shared interest in books but; oh god Draco, I don't half miss them" he frowned and wrapped one of his arms around the back of her neck and he pulled her head to his shoulders so that she could snuggle into him. "I heard rumours that you protected them, we could never find them. He tried but he couldn't trace them" he felt her sob slightly and she lifted her head again "he obviously didn't tell you when he did find them because when I went to get them at the end of the war, their house was burned down and... so were they" he looked shocked and angry, his protective instincts kicking in. "didn't anyone go with you? I can't believe you had to see that and deal with it by yourself" she surprised him by climbing off of him. She ushered to him to get up a swell. He obeyed, looking thoroughly bemused. She took out her wand, pointed it at the sofa and it enlarged to fit a two person space.

He smiled at her and she winked before conjuring her blanket from her dorm and they collapsed onto the sofa. She clapped her hands and the lights turned off. They cuddled up too each other, finally. It felt perfect, more than they could ever have dreamed of. Just being so physically close made the whole world around them dissolve and lose all meaning.

That's when Hermione decided, there and then, cuddled up to the most perfect person on the planet, that when she was ready, she wanted Draco to be her first.


	11. Chapter 11

Harry Potter's eyes flickered open and he wasn't sure why, it was still the middle of the night and the only things that he could really see were the objects illuminated by the moonlight. He sighed, looking at the moon. He always found it hard not to leave Hogwarts for the night on the full moons; he felt that, with Sirius, James and Peter all dead, Remus still needed someone to be there for him during his werewolf transformation. Despite Harry's best efforts to convince the man to let him be there, Remus had insisted that even with the wolfsbane potion, it was too risky.

Harry coughed to clear his throat and smiled to himself, sensing her presence before he saw her "I know your there" he said as quietly as he could and she chuckled lightly "you always do" he nodded and gestured to her to sit on the end of his bed.

She took a deep breath and he frowned, sitting up, letting the covers fall to reveal his newly buffed up torso. He reached for her hand, looking at her strangely, like he was trying to read her mind; she rolled her eyes, knowing Harry he probably was, there wasn't much he couldn't do.

"Hermione, what's the problem?" she looked down, her eyelids closed slightly as she stared at his bed covers. She felt a plunging feeling in her stomach and started to shake "seriously Hermione, has Ron done something again?" Harry asked, squeezing her hand in encouragement. She tried to smile but it ended up being a frown. "I need you to come and talk to Ron with me tomorrow. He hasn't done anything but I need to tell him something and I don't want to rip out his heart by myself" a tear dropped and she wiped it away impatiently. Harry moved closer and leaned them up against the bottom bedpost. He put took her hand more tightly and she dropped her head onto his shoulders tiredly "so what have you done that's gonna make you rip his heart out then?" Harry asked, sounding suspicious "I'm going out with Malfoy" she said, dropping the bombshell as fast as she could and screwing up her face in preparation for him losing his temper. He said nothing for a little while. He just stared at his pillows on the other end of the bed, he still held her hand but his grip loosened a lot and his face turned expressionless again.

She groaned, pulling him away from his train of thought "bloody hell Harry, say something, your killing me here" he frowned and took a deep, worried breath, supposedly still thinking. "when did this happen?" he asked her simply; she had expected his voice to be harsh and angry but it was smooth, controlled and maybe even comforting "we kissed last night after we went back to our dorm" Harry nodded, taking in the information and processing it. He eventually looked sideways at her and smiled, she felt the weight lift off her shoulders and she smiled back "well, it has been on the cards for ages. Ginny is going to be ecstatic you know that don't you? She wanted this to happen since he started being all nice to you. She's always going on about what a great couple you'd make" Hermione laughed a little too loudly, making Neville stir and Dean actually sat up, she raised her eyebrows when she looked at him, he had a good body. Dean clenched his eyes at her, groaning "Hermione, could you keep it down, were trying to sleep" she nodded and he smiled lightly, opening his eyes wide enough to see her gawping at his chest "put your eyes back in Granger, from what I heard a second ago, Malfoy won't be very happy to know his girlfriend is eyeing up other men" she cocked her eyebrows and flashed her middle finger. Dean chuckled and threw his head back on the pillow, falling back to sleep almost straight away.

Hermione looked back at Harry and moved so she was sat facing him "please come with me to tell Ron. I don't want him to lose his temper and flip out again" Harry smiled understandingly and reached up to cup her left cheek in his hand. "Hermione I will never let you do anything you don't want to by yourself" she smiled proudly "you have no idea how proud I am of you Harry Potter. I never told you how amazing you are did I?" he chuckled; taking on a mock smug posture "well, I try my best" she got up, ruffling his hair as he went.

Harry watched her leave and smiled to himself, lying back on his soft pillow as his uneasy thoughts strayed back to Remus, wondering where he was now. "Keep an eye on Draco though Harry" he heard Seamus mumble tiredly from the bed across the room.

"Were all of you listening to that?" Harry asked, sounding a little amused "hey shut up the only time we have girls up here is when Ginny visits and were always forced to stay away" Harry blushed slightly but laughed a little all the same "shut it Dean" they all chuckled and went back to their silent thoughts, every one of them slowly drifted back into dream ridden slumbers.

* * *

"Morning Granger, where did you go last night?" he asked casually, opening his eyes to find Hermione cuddled up to him again "sorry if I woke you, I went to see Harry. I have to tell Ron today and I'm not sure it would make it better if you were there when I tell him later so I asked Harry to come instead" Draco frowned "you sure your gonna be okay, I mean Potter can protect you and everything but what happens if he completely goes off the rails. I mean, he'll be heartbroken" Hermione grimaced "oh thank you Draco, that makes me feel loads better" she said sarcastically, he chuckled, planting a reassuring kiss on her forehead.

He lifted himself up, rolled over her and onto the floor, standing up and going to get dressed. He left the door open so she could hear him talking properly "Its Pansy finding out that I'm dreading. I mean we were never in a proper relationship so I don't have to tell her outright. I think she'll see us together and flip. She is still prejudiced after all, I'm scared she'll go to this secret deatheater clan" Hermione creased up her eyebrows and levitated the quilt through her door, closing it so she could get dressed.

The tension in her body was mounting now, her legs were stiff and she felt physically sick. She tried to forget about what she was about to do and remember that it was all so that she could be with Draco. It didn't really help very much and she pulled on a pair of leggings, a dress top and a black cardigan, she pulled her hair up in her usual ponytail when she was feeling rough. She knew that if she made an effort it would only make it harder for Ron to let her go.

Hermione had to admit, she was frightened of what Ron would try to do to Draco; not because she was afraid of Ron hurting Draco, it was the other way round. She knew Ron would never come out of a fight better than Draco and if they were to duel, she may as well have signed Ron's death sentence straight away.

She hushed this thought quickly, reminding herself that Draco wouldn't hurt Ron because it would consequently cause her pain. She took a deep breath and pulled on her ugg boots and pushed through her dorm door. She saw Draco stood by the portrait hall, holding out his hand to her.

He had on a green t-shirt and a blue Denim shirt over the top of it; his hair was ruffled again but this time he had styled it, he sported the same pair of men's skinny jeans she'd seen him wear on their first day on the train. He wore her favourite crooked smile.

She chuckled, walking toward him and kissing him briefly, feeling Goosebumps rise on her arms. She took his hand and they walked out of the portrait whole in silence. He could feel her hand shaking slightly in his and her face was frozen and expressionless. He decided that enough was enough.

He pulled her into the nearest broom cupboard and pushed her against the wall, placing his hands on the wall either side of her head, he felt her breathing quicken and he smirked, staring deep into her chocolate brown eyes. "What are you doing, I have to meat Harry outside Gryffindor tower in ten minutes" she whispered, sounding completely hooked up in their gaze to even truly care about what she was saying.

"Why are you scared?" she creased her forehead slightly but remained engrossed in their stare, her heart pounding beneath her chest "Because Ron could do something stupid when I tell him and because I'm still afraid of him hurting me" Draco nodded and kissed her deeply, forcing her to lose every thought in her head. He broke away and asked again "what are you afraid of?" she raised her eyebrows at this. "I'm not stupid; I'm not falling for that. I read Stephanie Meyer as well you know? I'm no Bella Swan" he chuckled "hmm, I see there is no distracting you, is there no way I can make you feel better about this?" he shook her head sadly, arching her neck so her head rested on his collar bone for a few seconds. She sighed and ducked under his muscular arm once again, disappearing into the corridor.

"Shit" he muttered, punching the wall and kicking the door open, leaving him hopping around in pain for a second before he limped off, swearing loudly and walking off to the breakfast hall where he knew no one would be just yet.

* * *

"Hermione, what the bloody hell are you doing here?" Ron asked her as she sneaked skilfully into the boy's bathroom, knowing this was where she'd find him. She had left Harry outside the room, telling him she would shout if she needed him. "Hello Ron" she said, sounding awkward and very nervous. She seemed shifty, tired and uptight. Ron frowned "what's the matter?" she closed her eyes, drawing in a deep, sharp breath as if readying herself for war all over again.

She looked up at him and blurted it out, stunning him to the spot "I'm dating Malfoy" Ron felt the blood rushing quickly to his heart freeze, he tried hard to draw in breath but his lungs weren't allowing it, it felt as though he were drowning in freezing cold water and it was a dark and cold place. He couldn't say anything back, all he could think to do was leave the room, he felt that once he was away from her, he could let his anger drop and ruin his life even more. He pushed passed her arm hard, slamming the door shut behind her and she knew instantly where he was going.

She whipped around fast and burst through the door, grabbing Harry's hand and pulling him at light speed down the old corridor. Harry shouted for an explanation as they ran but she didn't answer him. She zoomed them both down the staircase, her brunette hair coming undone as they ran.

She froze at the open doors to the great hall, seeing Ron storming up the Slytherin table that was gradually filling up with students. He was about ten people away from Draco and she did the only thing she could think to do, scream his name "RONALD WEASLEY" she screeched, she saw him freeze and turn, staring at her straight in the eyes "YOU TOUCH HIM AND YOU'LL WISH YOU'D NEVER BEEN BORN" she shouted, making him laugh coldly, throwing his head back like a maniac.

She stormed up the isle toward him, ignoring the whispers covering every head in sight "we need to talk about this, trying to kill my boyfriend won't help" Ron's eyes stung at the use of the word 'boyfriend', he gulped, closing his eyes, his anger not vanishing. "Ron, you don't need me, you need help, anger management" he looked astonished "I DO NOT NEED ANGER MANAGEMENT" yelled in her face, spit spraying her.

She forgot to be scared of him, she felt hate for him boiling up and it was about to spill over "Ron, come and talk about this in private please" he shook his head defiantly. Draco has stood up but was not moving from his spot. He had just got up so he was ready if Hermione needed him to help Potter pull him down.

Tears fell down her reddening face and the whole school was watching. None of the teachers had come down to breakfast yet. "NO, HOW DARE YOU SUGGEST THAT I'M THE ONE THAT NEEDS HELP. FOR GODS SAKE HERMIONE, YOUR DATING AN EX-DEATHEATER" Ron pointed behind him at Draco, Hermione winced slightly at his physical position, he was towering over her in a threatening pose "Weasley back off a bit yeah" Ron turned and seethed at Draco, his face and neck tensing up. His jaw line twitched and his eyes widened maliciously. He went to move forward but Hermione grabbed his arm to pull him back. His hand whipped backward and he deliberately slapped her across the face again. The smack echoed across the whole hall, as a stunned silence stopped the whispers, she had broken down in sobs, turning to look at him with glassy eyes. Draco had tried to launch himself at Ron but Blaise held him back, Harry and Ginny being stopped by a shield Charm Minerva had casted when entering the hall "MR WEASLEY WHAT DO YOU THINK YOU ARE DOING" she screeched, every student in the hall had winced. Most of the Gryffindor table had stood up to attack Ron but they had all shot back into their seats when the piercing shout of Minerva hit their eardrums painfully.

Minerva had gone straight to Hermione whose lip was bleeding and was sobbing uncontrollably into a fuming Harry's arms.

Ron looked confused and frightened, like he had just woken up from a very bed nightmare, his knees collapsed on the floor; he stared into space, like he was suddenly blinded by his own madness. Minerva walked forward slowly, Harry protested silently but she waved him down, picking up Ron's wand and kneeling down, her cloak creating a waterfall effect on the ground around her. She wrapped a guiding arm around him, snapping him out of his dazed daydream. He began to shake violently and she helped him up, looking shaken up herself. "Come on Mr Weasley, let's get you up to Madame Pomfrey" Ron nodded, looking more and more terrified by the minute. Hermione wanted to go to him and tell him that she was okay and she didn't blame him but Harry's hold around her was tight and Ginny shook off one of the Slytherins, thanking them curtly for stopping her from killing Ron.

Draco rushed forward and hugged Hermione tightly, looking at her face. "come on, we'll go some place private" Draco was about to walk away when a high pitched raised voice sounded like a foghorn from behind him. He rolled his eyes when Pansy said "how could you do this to me Draco" he huffed and, without turning around walked Hermione out of the hall in the opposite direction, Ginny and Harry following them.


	12. Chapter 12

"Good afternoon students. I apologise for interrupting your weekend but I have some information regarding the events of the last four days and the incident this morning. It is my belief, as it was always Professor Dumbledore's, that to uphold a healthy family life within the school curriculum, I must tell you the whole truth about everything unless I feel it is absolutely necessary not to. Now, about this organisation of anonymous apparent deatheaters, we have made a breakthrough. After much inspection and tracer tests, the ministry have finally managed to track the howler to a location. We are not getting our hopes up too much about it but Mr Potter, Miss Granger and Miss Weasley will be working closely with the minister and I to decide what would be the best plan of action. After the incident this morning in which one of our seventh year students deemed apparent to have lost his mind and lashed out violently at Miss Granger, the student in question has been, after much thought, submitted to St Mungo's for three weeks after a psychological Healer diagnosed him with the condition of Bipolar disorder, there isn't much he can do to stop himself getting angry or sad or too happy, so we're going to put him on some medication to help with that" Minerva finished to an extremely awkward silence and most of the school were deliberately looking everywhere in the room apart from at each other.

"Come on, let's get out of here" Draco whispered in Hermione's ear, lacing their hands together and standing up. They walked out of the hall quickly and quietly, trying to ignore thousands of eyes following their every move. As soon as they were in the corridor outside the hall, Hermione grabbed him and hugged him tightly, sobbing into his torso. Draco closed his eyes at her touch and kissed the top of her head, pulling her in closer so that not even air could get between their bodies.

"It's just so hard" she said between a small cry and a whisper. She pulled away slightly and looked up at him "can I tell you something Draco Malfoy?" he smirked, nodding a bit, knowing what she was about to say "go on then" she took a deep breath and stepped away from him. Taking his hand and squeezing it tight "your flies are undone" she said, he rolled his eyes and laughed, giving her a mischievous look and she took that as her queue to run.

He chased her around five corridors and out onto the freezing cold grounds of Hogwarts. He eventually managed to catch up with her but they were running so fast, he found himself unable to stop; he ran straight into her, knocking them over and sending them both into a breathless, uncontrollable laughing fit.

When they were starting to recover, she gasped out "wow! I needed that" he laughed at her antics, rolling them over on the cold grass so he was on top of her. He lifted himself up with his hands and pushed up on his knees, one leg either side of her body. He leant his head down to kiss her tenderly and slowly, making her toes curl. He smirked into the kiss and pulled away but kept their faces nose to nose. "seriously, what were you going to say, I was preparing myself for all kinds of situations" she chuckled, dragging her teeth on her bottom lip for a second "I was actually going to say something that I've been saying a lot lately but it's just been getting me into deeper shit" he frowned, looking concerned "Hmm, that can't be good" she shook her head "It depends on the person and how much I mean it" he looked confused now but she laughed at herself, punching his left arm and making him collapse on her, she rolled them over this time and took his face in her cold hands. She smiled at him, true adoration in her eyes as they travelled the contours of his gorgeous face.

She leant down and kissed him differently than before, more passionate and needy, firm and fast, taking him by surprise. She pulled away, following their previous pattern of leaning foreheads while they caught their breath. "You can run, I'm still expecting you to you know. The thing is, these last seven years have been the most amazing, brilliant, tiring, dangerous, stressful, awful ever. I only ever thought that there would be one person that would make me happy and I genuinely thought that it would be psycho best friend Ron. I see now just how fucking stupid I really was. When I met you I thought you were arrogant and prejudiced and self centred and judgemental and annoyingly smart. Thinking back, when I met you, you probably were all those things but I never thought for one minute that there could be reasons behind it. I thought my life was complicated; I had no idea what you were going through. I truly hated you with a passion. Now, after everything we've been through I realise that I never truly hated you. The thing is I don't want you, I need you" she said with deep conviction, he felt the need to kiss her like he never had before but he knew that she still wanted to say something, he could see it in her eyes. "I'm falling in love with you" she said quietly. It took his breath away and he grinned widely, trying to silently reassure her that she hadn't put her foot in it. He kissed the top of her head and chuckled "all that build up and you tell me something I already knew" she breathed out exasperatedly, smacking his arm and sitting up, crossing her arms and legs like a toddler having a tantrum.

He sat up with her, taking her arms softly and uncrossing them. He slid his hands down her arms and into her own. He leant in and brushed their lips together, feeling a small pull around his pelvis area but ignored it. He respected her and would wait forever if he had to. He kissed her properly, she didn't respond immediately but when he ran the tip of his tongue along her bottom lip, she groaned, grabbing him and pulling him backward onto the ground again, the material of his shirt bunching in her clenched hands. His hands moved down her back and rested on her waist. He broke this kiss before it went too far and dropped away from her so they were laid side to side. She turned toward him and wrapped her arm around his middle, snuggling into him and gathering as much warmth as she could between them.

Their chests rose and fell, breathing heavily, each exhalation visible in the fading winter air. "by the way, I love you too" she smiled against the hard planes of his boyish form. Hermione shivered and Lifted her head to look into his pearly eyes "all that build up and you tell me something I already knew" he laughed when she repeated his words back to him.

The moment was perfect and he never wanted it to end but he sighed, watching her face reddening from the cold. He sat up, pulling himself up to his full height. For a moment she thought he was going to leave without her but he bent down, threading both his arms under her body against her protests and picking her up in a easy princess carry, his arms not even working to carry her eight stone weight.

She struggled and kicked out halfway before she relaxed, excepting defeat as he carried her through the hallways of the school. "I hate you" she sulked, crossing her arms across her breasts again. He raised his eyebrows and dropped her. Pushing her hard into the nearest wall and walking toward her, seeing her face go from angry to bright red and her eyes glued to his lips. He got right near her and leaned in far enough so that their lips were about to touch. Her breath fanned unevenly across the soft skin of his face. He leaned down, brushing his lips along her jaw line and down to her neck. All of a sudden, he jumped away and turned away, walking down the corridor backward, still facing her.

"Cheeky bastard" she shot, hardly trying to hide the amused smirk on her still red face. He threw his head back laughing "because that was someone who hates me wasn't it? That's funny, I never made Weasley horny as hell and he really hated me" she glared at him evilly, following his slow and casual step on the way to their common room. "I was not horny" she said, raising her voice a little "you so were, you can practically see your nips through that jumper" her jaw dropped and she looked furious, he was enjoying winding her up a lot. Her eyes narrowed and her fist clenched up "ah, there we go, I knew feisty bookworm hadn't gone completely" she was practically fuming by now and he turned, running as fast as he could up the next few staircases to their dorm. She followed him, growing quickly on his tail.

* * *

"Where did Hermione and Draco go?" Ginny asked Harry as they got ready to visit Ron at St Mungo's. He shrugged "I dunno but I don't really fancy interrupting them do you?" Ginny rolled her eyes and slapped him playfully across the back of the head "Ouch!" he exclaimed, throwing himself backward into the red interior armchair by the Gryffindor fire "what? Your telling me that you want to go to their dorms right now while there's a ninety nine point nine percent chance that their attacking each other's lips" Ginny sighed at her boyfriends crudeness and lack of tact but grabbed his hand, pulling him up again and he groaned "but I'm nacared, I was up half the night worrying about Remus" she looked reproachful but wrapped her arms around him briefly before grabbing their wands off the table "come on, let's go and see your best friend in hospital" Harry sighed, letting go of her and taking her hand, leading her out of the portrait whole as the fat lady swung open and shut behind them.


	13. Chapter 13

"Hey mate, how are you?" Harry asked in the psycho ward of St Mungo's, clapping Ron over the back of the head affectionately and earning a glare from Ginny. Ron's eyes were spaced out and a little bit empty but all the same he had a small grin on his face to see that Harry and Ginny had come to see him.

"So you forgive my loopy moment then?" Ron asked, trying to look like his normal self. Harry put his hand over Ron's for a split second and nodded "what are they saying about your 'illness' then?" Ginny said, bending down to kiss her brother on the forehead before taking a seat next to his hospital bed. He took a deep breath, rolling his tongue about in his mouth and screwing up his face "they shed I haf menchal probleemmms" he said, Harry laughed but Ginny hit Ron on the arm, looking serious. He rolled his eyes and answered "well I've had a second opinion examine me and he said that I'm not bipolar or loopy; apparently I have a condition called broken heart" Ginny looked outraged and huffed angrily "chill out Gin, the healer was only kidding but he told me that I do have anger management issues so they're going to give whoever is normally with me some spells just to keep my moods level. I also need to come to an hour long class every weekend for about two months just to get myself back on track" Ginny still looked worried but she nodded curtly in apparent satisfaction of the healer's examination.

Harry decided to turn the conversation around and took on his own worried expression. Ron frowned, noticing Harry's change of posture and sat himself up so he could look his friend directly in the eye. "Well, we still need to work out what were going to do about these rogue deatheaters" Ron sighed and waited for Harry to explain "well, the Aurors have managed to trace the you-know-what to a location. So I need you back tomorrow because your my second best dueller and your good with people so you'll be recruiting if you don't mind" Ron smiled and nodded again, watching one of the women healers walk past his cubical in a tight blazer and short pencil skirt. Ginny rolled her eyes and coughed loudly when she saw Harry glance sideways as well. He snapped his head back in her direction and smirked, winking at his girlfriend and making her blush.

"Mr Weasley, your second opinion has deemed you fit enough to leave around midday tomorrow, you will need to stay in overnight just so we can check that you're stable" Ron looked bored. He ran his fingers through his ginger hair and leaned himself back onto his pillow. "Harry, how's Hermione?" Ron asked, looking sheepish and a little broken as the nurse walked away from them. Harry sighed and played with the fabric of his leather jacket "she's still a bit shaken but I think things are going to be okay, you've been friends for years and you'll get through this Ron. You do need to be prepared for Draco slobbering all over her every minute of the day though" Ginny hissed Harry's name and Ron winced, looking physically ill at the thought "she's falling in love with him isn't she?" Ron asked, his hands shook a bit and he looked heartbroken again but still in control of his temper. Harry wasn't going to lie to Ron, he needed to know the truth so that he was prepared for seeing them together "yes" he answered simply and Ron slid his eyes shut, supposedly to stop them from tearing up. Ginny instantly grabbed her brother's hand and squeezed it lightly "It's going to be okay mate, I promise" Harry said sincerely, smiling supportively when Ron opened his eyes.

Ginny checked her watch and looked back at her brother apologetically and glanced at Harry "sorry mate, we've got lessons to worry about, McGonagall. She's freaking out about our NEWTs and shit because I'm helping with this deatheater clan as well. We've been ordered to revise for the rest of the afternoon" Ron nodded curtly and tried to smile reassuringly but he just ended up looking pained and tired "we'll come and get you tomorrow lunch time okay?" Harry said, ruffling Ron's hair, he tried to bat his hand away, succeeding in smacking him across the head.

Ginny cleared her throat impatiently and grabbed Harry's arm, pulling him to the door of the ward. She turned back to him when Harry was already in the corridor "we love you" she said solemnly, making him chuckle "go" he ushered and they were gone.

* * *

"Minerva we really do need to be taking this seriously, we have to be on the constant lookout for traitors, I'm a little worried that something may have happened without us knowing. Could you please do a register at Dinner tonight?" Kingsley asked, his eyes wondering to Dumbledore's portrait "what do you think Albus, am I doing the right thing letting Harry help so much, I mean he does need to keep his head down, we can't lose him again" Dumbledore smiled kindly "Kingsley I think Harry needs to be involved as much as possible, he is the best man for the job" Kingsley frowned "but Albus, he's just a boy" Dumbledore raised his eyebrows but kept the kind smile "that is where you are mistaken Kingsley, Harry is a man. The greatest man I've ever known in fact. Don't fret, you are becoming a great minister" Kingsley smiled with gratitude and looked back at Minerva who was wearing a face akin to agreement but discomfort "what's the matter?" Kingsley asked her and she sat up straighter, looking stubbornly into his eyes "nothing Kingsley I'm just a bit worried, Potter is my student and I, like many others, care about him" Kingsley nodded and stood up, smiling at Minerva as he opened the door to leave "don't worry, we'll keep him as safe as we can. Not that he'll keep out of trouble of course, this is Harry were talking about" her pretty but wrinkled face creased up slightly into an amused smile, he took that as his queue to leave.

"Are you sure Albus?" she asked him in her stern Scottish accent "yes my dear, Harry is an amazing person, people do not give him enough credit for who he is" Minerva cocked her eyebrows "not enough credit! Albus he's the most famous person in the wizarding world" he chuckled "yes but fame is simple appreciation for the things he has done, not the reasons he did them" she sighed heavily "if you say so Albus, If you say so"

* * *

Harry, Hermione, Draco, Ginny, Kingsley, Minerva and the new head of the Auror office were sat on the sofas surrounding the Gryffindor common room's fire. They were poured over the sheets of paper that held their final draft plans and general information. The head of Aurors, Sofia Bara, kept looking over at Draco suspiciously and Hermione was growing more and more impatient with her.

"So we need to make sure that no one is going missing. I'm sending my staff out to homes of ex-deatheaters now and again to check on them. Kingsley, you said that you'd managed to trace the howler?" the minister nodded and glanced over at Harry before saying "yes, It was sent from a broken down house on a field in Devon" Sofia frowned "have you checked deatheater associates in the area?" she asked and Draco shifted in his chair "yes, about an hour away there is a secluded manor house just off the outskirts of the local village" Sofia nodded "well, who does it belong to?" she stared intently at Kingsley as his own eyes flickered over to Draco "Me" Draco said, causing the whole room to turn and stare at him. Hermione let out a shaky breath but kept her eyes on the table "my father is in Azkaban, my mother is too hooked up in her work, she's never home and there is no way she could have sent it" Sofia glared at him "how do we know it wasn't you Malfoy?" she asked, accusingly, locking her eyes onto his face, trying to detect a sign of weakness "Draco has been with me nearly every minute for the last four days" Hermione shot back at Sofia who looked angry. Kingsley went to speak but Sofia cut across him "the letter was sent before you two got it together" Hermione narrowed her eyes "we share a dorm, I would have noticed if Draco had been any later in or out of our common room than he normally is. He's been in every one of his lessons and quite frankly I trust him with my life" Sofia laughed coldly "well you shouldn't little girl, He's a Malfoy, their very good actors" Draco rolled his eyes "yes. But cut it out trying to blame me, I'm nothing like my father" Sofia raised her eyebrows "you're purebloods, you're all the same" she shot back, Ginny put her hand on Sofia's shoulder "it's not Draco okay. I know it's not. Were jumping to conclusions" Harry nodded in agreement "If we start fighting amongst ourselves it's just going to make it harder to sort this out" Sofia looked away defiantly, keeping her hand clasped firmly around the wand in her cloak pocket.

Harry rolled up the sleeves of his brown hoodie and leaned forward. "Right, so what do you want to do minister? We could send a team of Aurors in" Sofia nodded "that's an option minister" Kingsley frowned "I don't want to go in all wands blazing; it might be their main base. I want to send in few of the most skilled wizards we have first and we'll get them to see what were dealing with, then they send a patronus out to the tree's where Sofia will be with her Aurors. Only take it over if you really have to Bara, we have to be quite careful about this" Harry finished scribbling the plan down with a muggle pencil and nodded.

"That sounds like a plan, who are your best wizard then?" Hermione asked Kingsley smiled crookedly "well, what would one say if Ronald was with us right now Minerva?" McGonagall chuckled quietly "what I have found myself saying at least a hundred times a year for the last seven academic years; you three" Harry laughed at her sarcasm but Draco tensed up a bit at the idea of his girlfriend ambushing an extremely dangerous, deatheater base. Hermione, however was blushing and Ginny was smiling as well "I was frightened you were sending my boyfriend in by himself Kingsley, its okay now I know he has Tweedledum and Tweedledee to look after him" Hermione threw her friend a disapproving look and turned back to Kingsley "are you sure Minister, just because we've done a lot of things doesn't make us the 'most skilled wizards you have' I mean..." she was cut off by Harry's laughter, she frowned at him "what is so god damn funny Harry?" he smiled "It's just that's exactly the same thing I said to you in fifth year and I ended up with my own class full of potential Aurors" Hermione rolled her eyes and sighed, accepting defeat.

Harry turned back to Minerva and Kingsley, the amused look still coating his handsome facial features "so what? Me Ron and Hermione go in first" the minister nodded "but I want Mr Malfoy to go in with you, if you need it, you have a cover. Which also brings me around to the subject we discussed the other day. We still need someone to infiltrate this clan, no doubt they already have their own people nicking information from us" Harry frowned "well, most of the deatheaters have publicly declared themselves loyal to us, it would be too risky, the cover would be to weak and the best chance we could have had was dear old Snape and he's dead" the minister frowned back at Harry, scratching his bold head in thought.

All of a sudden, an idea popped into Draco's head and the concept of what he was about to do frightened him but he decided to do it anyway "I'll do it" he said hoarsely. Hermione protested at once. She grabbed his hand tightly "are you mad? You could be killed, you wouldn't do everything they asked you to last time, you have to be strong minded and prepared to..." "I know Granger, I don't care, you guys obviously need this and it'll be a chance to pay my debt to society" she scoffed coldly "in blood? Draco this is crazy" she said desperately "actually, it might not be" Harry said, making Hermione stand up, tears in her begging eyes "you've all gone mad. He'll have to kill people. I'm not saying that your weak, all I'm saying is remember what you were like when Voldemort tried to get you to kill Dumbledore, you suffered, more than I've ever seen you suffer ever before. And we had people blabbing about all kind of things in court, we heard about Charity Burbage and everyone's reactions when the snake ate her on the table. You fell off your freaking chair Draco! And when you saved my life when I was being tortured, you can't do that, you can't beg for anyone to be saved, this is their last chance to win, it is going to be so much worse than the things you had to see last time Draco if they find out who you are, they will kill you" the whole room stared at her, dumbfounded by her sudden outburst. Draco stared at the floor for a few minutes and stood up, gently taking her face in his hands.

He looked straight into her eyes and smiled, whispering "listen" she turned her head away from him defiantly, tears spilling down her cheeks. "No, don't cry, listen to me" he moved her head so she was facing him again but she tried to look away from his eyes "I have to do this Hermione, they need me too. If we had been together two years ago and I told you not to go on the run with Potter, you would have told me to fuck off wouldn't you?" she sighed, seeing where he was going. He was wearing down her defence "yes" she said, giving up and staring back into his eyes "well, it's like that. I was a bad person for such a long time and now I've got a chance to make up for that. Something real, something that's going to make a difference" she closed her eyes, more tears fell and she nodded, unable to look at him.

She pulled his hands away from her face and left the room, stepping out into the corridor and slamming the picture of the fat lady behind her.

"Shit" Draco hissed to himself, sitting back down and looking at Kingsley. There was an awkward silence for a couple of second before Harry clapped his hands together loudly. "Minister is it okay if we call it a day now?" Kingsley nodded and Sofia looked relieved "see you suckers tomorrow" she turned and vanished with a small pop "she can apparate out of Hogwarts?" Ginny asked Kingsley "yeah but it's only a few of us that can don't worry" Harry looked worried "is she always that immature?" Kingsley nodded "but she's good at what she does. It's only temporary though, I'm waiting for you to finish school" Harry blushed, looking pleased and bid goodbye to his friends, indulging in a long kiss with Ginny that made everyone look away, embarrassed. Ginny chuckled at everyone's reaction and went up a different staircase that led to a balcony. She waved to them and disappeared through another door. Draco shook the minister's hand and smiled at his headmistress before leaving.

Draco walked down the hall and up a small staircase. He muttered "Amor" "the best kind of magic" the picture replied, swinging open as he stepped inside. He was so worked up; he forgot to be confused about what the portrait had said.

He didn't bother waiting up for Hermione, he knew it would be extremely late before she got back and even when she did, she would refuse to talk to him until she finished sulking.

He trudged through his door and fell on his bed, only bothering to pull off his shirt and t-shirt as he went. He wasn't in a good mood, he hated fighting with Hermione, even if it wasn't really a fight, they normally only ever clashed when one of them made a decision the other didn't like or when they teased each other. Draco could normally defuse the situation by apologising and kissing her.

He sighed heavily, standing up, he could never stick staying still when he was upset. He paced back and forth, hating the predicament even more with every step. He lost it and punched the wall hard, wincing in pain and stretching out his hand to find his knuckles bleeding a little bit.

He groaned, he knew nothing could be said to change his mind, he needed to do this, for them. He had to make up all the evil stuff that he did for the people that died. He just didn't understand why it had to be so damn hard!

He took a deep breath, calming himself down. He collapsed back onto his bed, staring at the ceiling. His last thought was not a good one; he had lessons tomorrow which would make it even harder to avoid Hermione and her sulky mood.

He closed his tired, pale eyelids and concentrated hard on relaxing his body which was hard to do without Hermione cuddling up to him and laughing at one of his pathetic jokes. He just went to sleep thinking about how much he truly did love her.


	14. Chapter 14

Hermione clicked her neck uncomfortably, sitting up and rubbing her back. She had not thought to ask the room of requirement for a bed so she had ended up sleeping on the floor, staring at the bewitched starry ceiling.

She lifted her body up with her hands and stood up to her full height. She staggered, taking herself by surprise when Draco was not there to catch her. She felt tears rise in her eyes when she thought of Draco, wonderful, amazing, funny, arrogant, stubborn, beautiful, handsome and gorgeous Draco was giving himself up to the deatheaters once again. She didn't want to watch him hit rock bottom all over again, she couldn't.

She respected his decision and she knew that, in the long haul, it would turn out to be the right one. She just couldn't stand the thought of him being forced to kill innocent people, torture them. She didn't know if she could accept the fact that the mark on his left arm would mean something to someone again.

She pushed the door open weakly, feeling the tear tracks when she tried to stretch out her tired face. She knew she had to go back to their dorm to get ready, the watch on her left arm told her that it was only five o'clock in the morning so the castle was still dark. No doubt Harry was watching her walking along the corridor on the Marauders map, making sure that she got back to her room okay before he went back to sleep for an hour.

She got to their portrait and looked up at the lady in the picture; she was beautiful, soft, pale face. Her hair was long, wavy and brown. Mascara was smudged down her cheeks but she wore a smile that could light up a hundred muggle cities. She had on an intricate, jewelled, bustled dress that was exactly the same shade as Draco's blue, pearly eyes. "Password dear?" the lady asked in a musical, gentle voice.

Hermione snapped, abruptly out of her train of thought. "Sorry; Amor" the women smiled kindly and nodded "the strongest thing in the world" Hermione frowned but ignored it, pushing the door open and finding the common room empty and dark. It had a sense of sadness, like the room followed her mood. She knew it was impossible but it just seemed ironic.

She couldn't be without him any longer, she needed to see him. So she walked slowly up to his bedroom door and knocked loudly. The door whipped open straight away and she was immediately pulled into a bone crushing hug. His hands were on her back , in her hair and she shushed him, returning the sweet needy kiss as his soft lips came crashing down on hers "hey, it's okay" she said gently and quietly, stroking his face with her finger "don't ever do that to me again Hermione, I was so god damned worried. You could have at least sent me a patronus" she nodded, kissing him again in apology. His breathing quickened and she chuckled, feeling his heart pounding in his chest underneath her other hand. "Where did you go?" he asked casually, pulling them backward blindly and made them fall back onto the sofa again. "Room of requirement" he nodded "good place to think isn't it?" she chuckled "or wallow in self pity" he laughed, leaning in to kiss her again, more passionately. She slid her tongue inside his mouth and it was his undoing. He felt a small groan rip from inside his chest "good god you really don't know what you do to me do you Hermione?" she smiled smugly and brushed her lips over his neck, letting her teeth drag lightly over his pulse point.

He pulled her head away, confusing her but he smiled kindly "just give me a second" she laughed, waiting while his breathing slowed. "you're a cheeky bastard sometimes Hermione Granger" she chuckled, hugging him tighter, snuggling her head into the crook of his neck "you know I wish you weren't such a gentleman sometimes" He raised his eyebrows "I have to be Hermione I'm not some kind of animal I have to wait until your ready" she kissed his shoulder blade "I'm ready" she whispered, her breath fanning lightly across his face "your absolutely sure?" he asked her.

She nodded enthusiastically she pulled his head forward, sending his lips crashing down on hers again, their tongues having their own war while Hermione's nerves hit an all time high, Goosebumps spread themselves all the way across her skin and she pulled him impossibly closer. It didn't stop there.

* * *

Hermione skipped happily into the great hall at breakfast, her lips bruised and her eyes wide with joy. Her black side bag bounced along with her step. She was a little bit sore but she didn't care, she felt on top of the world. Ginny looked extremely amused when Hermione sat down next to her "what happened to you? I thought you were in a deep state of depression, or are you the bipolar one now?" Hermione smiled widely, leaning to whisper in Ginny's ear "I lost my virginity to Draco Malfoy this morning" Ginny squealed in excitement, making Harry frown even more. Ginny giggled wildly and hugged Hermione tightly "Ah! I'm so happy for you!" Harry was getting annoyed now; he didn't like not knowing things "will someone please tell me why Hermione looks like someone spiked her drink with speed" Ginny frowned, her smile not vanishing "what's speed?" Hermione smiled "It's a muggle drug" Ginny raised one eyebrow this time, looking back at Hermione "you haven't been taking drugs have you?" Harry laughed "I bloody well hope not but tell me!" Hermione looked at him "no I'm not telling you because you'll murder Draco" Harry still looked bemused until about ten minutes later when Hermione and Ginny were talking about a boy in the year below them who was gay.

Realisation dawned on his face and his head shot up, glaring deep into Hermione's eyes "you didn't" he said, watching the grin reappear on her glowing face "I did" He looked absolutely stunned "but I thought... with … with Ron and... oh my god!" both girls looked at each other and stated laughing, leaving Harry to deal with the shock.


	15. Chapter 15

"Alright, come on, you go round the back, Ron and I will take the front" Harry potter whispered to Hermione and Draco. They were bent down, talking in hushed whispers behind a window around the back of a broken down old shack.

The tiles on the roof were either smashed or moulding away and covered in green and brown moss. The windows were partly shattered and the glass still lay on the floor in sharp shards that glistened brilliantly in the sunlight. There were two doors, one around the back and another around the front, both were rotting away due to wet and muddy conditions.

It really didn't look like a place for a secret deatheater hideout; that's why everyone was so nervous because it would be a good disguise. No one in their right mind would go trekking through the woods to explore a disgusting, smelly rotting old farmhouse.

Hermione took a deep breath and turned, still crouching to travel around the back of the house; she was holding Draco's hand so tight, she was nearly stopping the blood circulation. There was a small rustling in the trees behind Ron and Harry and they quickly flattened themselves against the wood. Harry cursed under his breath when a small bird came tottering out of the bushes and flew away across the empty field.

Hermione got nearer to the house and both she and Draco took out their wands, walking sideways until they reached the back door. Draco moved into the lead. He pushed Hermione gently against the wood "listen to me. Stay here until I call you, if I don't call for you in the next ten minutes, you creep back out into the woods and you find Sofia okay?" she nodded, looking close to tears, her breath visible in the cold morning air. Draco smiled at her reassuringly, kissing her for a second "I love you so much" he said before he kicked the door open, she held her breath, blinking her eyes shut as a tear fell down her face. Her body stayed frozen flat against the wood, waiting for his signal. It didn't come. She edged sideways closer to the door so she could listen in "ah Draco, what a nice surprise. Aren't you one of them now?" a sneering voice came from inside the hut and her breathing got uneven and rapid, more tears fell as she heard her boyfriend step further into the threshold. She felt Harry's hand close around her arm; he put his hand over her lips as a silent gesture for her to be quiet. Ron took her hand supportively and she tried to smile at him to show him that everything was okay. Harry slid a mirror out of his coat pocket silently and knelt down slowly, hitching it up against the doorpost still silently.

Draco smirked falsely at the women standing in front of him "Aren't you dead?" she chuckled madly, her breasts bulging in her over tight ankle length leather dress. Her hair was frizzed out in a crazy fashion, her brown, heavily lidded eyes empty and cold.

"Well, looks can be deceiving, maybe I am dead" Draco laughed just as crazily as his aunty, Sofia was right, Malfoy's were good actors "I very much doubt that" Bellatrix smiled at him crookedly, showing a full set of yellowing teeth "Why?" Draco put his hands in his pockets and began to pace the room casually, her eyes followed his face. If she had been looking at his hands, she would have seen the very small muggle camera's provided by Hermione, being put around the room.

"Because you're Bellatrix Lestrange, you don't do death, clues in the nickname, you know, DEATH eater" her plump lips turned into an even bigger smile "and you?" she asked when he stopped to a halt in front of her "depends on what you count as death" she chuckled again "you've changed nephew" Draco raised his eyebrows "well, you know I have been working out" the woman laughed "no, you're more... more like me" Draco's eyes widened but he kept in character, his own lips smirking smugly "why thank you" Bellatrix let herself fall backward onto the nearest manky armchair "you take that as a compliment?" Draco followed her lead, taking a seat on the broken and damp four seater sofa behind him "I'm not sure yet" She tilted her head to the side "so how did you find our base then? I thought I'd made it untraceable" Draco ran his fingers through his hair boyishly "well, you need to tighten the security, I live up on the hill remember" Bella nodded and Hermione remembered that Bellatrix wouldn't know about Draco going back to Hogwarts "your mummy home? Might pay her a visit, she'd be... surprised to know her son wants to be a deatheater after all" Draco shook his head "no, she's at work and she took to the new way of things better than I did. She doesn't like the fact that I'm refusing to move on" Bella laughed again, more high pitched this time. Hermione was getting nervous, if he could lie easily to his supposedly dead, crazy, deatheater aunt Bellatrix; then what had he lied to her about?

Hermione watched the mirror intently, her grip in Ron's arm tightening as Bella stood up and moved toward her nephew "Daddy still locked up then? And how does he feel about the Mudbloods living with us?" Draco's left eye twitched when she spat the word mudblood, making Hermione feel better, maybe he wasn't as much of a good actor as she thought. She felt Harry move behind her. He reached for the nearest window and placed another small camera with a sucker on to stick against the corner of the glass.

"I'm not sure, they won't let him write he'll most probably dead by the end of the year, father was never very good at enduring things" Bella frowned, placing her hand on Draco's knee, Hermione flinched and Ron let go of her hand, feeling a small pang of jealousy for how much she was worrying about him.

"You don't look very remorseful of that, he is your father after all" Draco scoffed "Remorse is for the weak minded" Bellatrix cackled, throwing her head back menacingly "why couldn't you have been like this when the dark lord was alive, he would have been most proud of you. You have become a fine young deatheater, if you were my son, you would be my second in command"

"Come on, he's in, that's all we needed, we need to get back to the castle" he whispered in her ear. She shook her head, whispering back "there's something I want to see him do first" Harry frowned but nodded, checking his watch to see if they had enough time.

"Well, my parents are useless, I'm no son of theirs" Bella pouted at him childishly "hmm, I always wanted a child, alright, your in. But Draco, you mess this up and I will kill you" Draco nodded enthusiastically. He stood up and they embraced in a tight hug. As they did so, Draco winked at Hermione. She saw him whisper the inaudible spell to numb a spot of Bella's skin on her back and pushed the small little micro chipped tracer into her spine.

Hermione allowed herself to be pulled backward into the forest by Harry and Ron, feeling Draco slipping further and further away from her. More tears fell and she was brought into a gathering staring ahead into the trees.

Draco pulled away first, hating the embrace with the evil women in his arms "I will contact you when I need you my son, you won't mess up this time Drakey" she left the hut; he watched her walk passed the charms around the house and disappear. Draco felt alone, back to square one. There was one thing that was worrying him though. There was only ever one person that had called him Drakey in his entire life; Pansy Parkison. He wondered for a moment if that Bellatrix could have been under the influence of Polyjuice potion, it dawned on him, what if the woman he had just been speaking to was Pansy Parkison in disguise, and she really had turned to the secret organisation in revenge and Jealously.

Draco sighed heavily and turned to walk out of the back door, casting a disillusionment charm on himself so he wouldn't be followed and walked toward to the forest and join his friends.

He took Hermione's hand, making her jump "let's go" she instructed the rest of the group, as none of them could see him or feel him and they twirled in the air, and they were gone.

"So you think that it wasn't Bella then?" Harry asked Draco "no, I think my aunt is very much dead, we all saw it happen. I think we need to talk to Pansy, where is she anyway?" Harry shrugged, glancing over at the Slytherin table "probably waiting for the affects of the Polyjuice potion to wear off" Hermione said, leaning her head against Draco's shoulder.

He stood up, taking Hermione by surprise. He bent down, kissing her on the forehead "I'm going to look for dear Pansy, coming Potter?" Harry nodded, standing up with him "I'm going to stay and finish my food and then I'm going to get a nap, I haven't been sleeping very well" Draco nodded and smirked when Ginny muttered "wonder why that is" Ron deliberately stared in the other direction, scowling bitterly.


	16. Chapter 16

Pansy Parkinson's back slammed violently into the wall and she yelped in pain, looking up at her attacker venomously "what the fuck?" Harry put his hand on Ron's shoulder to try and calm him down as his temper was getting the better of him again. Ron turned around, trying to fix his eyes on a non-moving object and focus on soothing himself, he was still annoyed about Hermione and Draco; Pansy's silly games weren't helping his mood.

Harry looked at her authoritatively, knowing that he could probably get her to confess to whatever she had done "so, dear little Pansy has decided she wants a little taste of danger then?" Harry said, standing in her personal space and making her uneasy. "I don't have a fucking clue what you're on about Potter" she said, trying to assess the situation but panicking every time he took a step closer. She acknowledged Draco's face behind the impatient one surveying her every move with his dark green eyes.

"Drakey will you please call off your cronies?" she whined in her high pitched girly voice, Draco kept his jaw clenched shut, the vein twitching. She frowned, not liking his sudden negativity toward her "so you didn't impersonate a dead deatheater earlier on today then?" Harry asked her, stopping with about two centimetres between their faces. "like I said, I don't know what you're talking about" Ron growled from outside the circle of confrontation "Bullshit Pansy, why don't you look surprised?" she chuckled crazily and Draco raised his eyebrows "It was you wasn't it?" she shook her head defiantly "you can put me through tests and make me drink Veratesirum, it won't work. Whoever you found in that shack was genuine" Harry pulled out his wand and pointed it at her throat "now we're getting somewhere. There was a very tight circle of people who knew about that house being a possible location and you were not in it. So Parkison are you going to tell me who you're working for or am I going to kill you right now" she searched his eyes for signs of an empty threat but found nothing. She truly believed that he actually would kill her. It was at that moment that Pansy decided that it had gone too far. She was getting nowhere and Draco was always going to love Granger.

She nodded, beaten. She took a deep breath, seeing Weasley cast some kind of spell that she supposed made it so that no one would be able to hear them. She took one last glance at Draco and said "all I had to do was tell the woman how much you knew about her. She told me that I would be rewarded with my revenge on the mudblood Granger" Draco moved forward but Harry stuck out his arm to block him, gesturing for Pansy to carry on.

"So I told her everything that I knew, that you'd managed to trace the howler to some kind of location but that you weren't saying where. She told me where the base was and thanked me for warning her. She was expecting you the other day so she warned the others to stay away from the house. Seems like she's actually fallen for whatever game your playing. She's pretty freaky, told me if I blabbed then she'd make my life hell" Harry nodded curtly and lowered his wand. Pansy relaxed slightly, looking at Draco desperately "Drakey..." she started to explain but he cut her off "NO! No Pansy, I knew you were jealous and upset, and even if we weren't actually ever a couple, I trusted you. I truly did" she frowned, tears stinging her eyes "Bellatrix Lestrange" she said simply, Draco looked angry and betrayed. "You think you can make this better by telling me something I already knew?" she choked, the tears spilling over her face "you made such a big deal of something between us that never existed Pansy; you know deep down that we were never a proper couple. I was never able to connect with anyone very much at all so it would have been near impossible for me to love you" Pansy hung her head in shame and gulped before saying in a shaky, uncaring voice "are you sending me to Azkaban then?" Harry shook his head, stowing away his wand "it would be too obvious that we know something. Draco we need so sort some things out, It seems our problems are more serious than we first realised" Ron was back by their side looking composed and content. His feet shifted in the ground as if he was embarrassed by his last sudden outburst of over enthusiasm. Pansy silently shot daggers at him with her eyes as he tried to seem apologetic.

"What am I doing now then?" she asked as Harry turned to walk away along with the other two men on either side of him "your coming with me" he answered curtly, she sighed and there was something in his voice that made her move her legs forward in pursuit of his fast and angry pace. She liked that feeling for some reason, his deep, authoritative voice made her feel suddenly protected, like he wasn't going to let anything happen to her even if she had betrayed him because he was Harry Potter and that was who he was.

* * *

He led them to the Gryffindor common room, the fat lady letting him in when he whispered the password so no one but she, could hear him. Granger wasn't there which made her relax a little and she sat down uncomfortably on the edge of one of the arm chairs. She liked this room, it wasn't freezing cold and evil looking like the Slytherins in the dungeons and there was an overwhelming sense of welcoming, togetherness and family unity. She had never been so warm in her entire life.

"Right Draco, I think, considering that this is Bellatrix were dealing with, you have to be very careful with this whole situation. There are so many glitches in these plans that are slowly popping up in my head. What if she calls you to the house and Hermione is on the floor covered in blood and screaming in agony like that night at your manor before the end of the war? What do you do then?" Draco shuddered at the very image of it "I don't know, I can't let her suffer like that again, I love her more now than I did back then" Harry sighed, pinching the bridge of his nose.

Draco looked ghostly pale again, even in the extreme light of the fire warming his face. He looked at Harry desperately "I'll blow this whole thing for you, I should never have gone into that house" Draco said, intense worry seeping out into his voice. Harry sighed heavily.

They sat in deep thought for a minute, the plans forming in every brain more ridiculous then the next. Suddenly, Harry clapped his hands together, making a fragile looking Pansy jump involuntarily. "I've got it. You hand me over to her" Ron spat out the water he was drinking all over the Coffey table in front of them and Malfoy looked angry "Potter are you crazy? This world needs you and you know it!" Harry nodded, bored with their reactions, he had seen them time and time again "you hand me over like you caught me and then she calls all the people from this deatheater clan. We've got plenty of battle room. We just make sure that everywhere else in England that we've been protecting is still protected because we still don't know how much info they have on us. You hand me over; I take a little bit of torture while she waits for the rest of her people to come. We have about five thousand fighters hiding in the woods around us, all you need to do then is give a signal and we attack" Ron was still looking outraged and Pansy was playing with her fingernails nervously, letting her short bob of brown hair fall over her face.

Draco nodded "that might actually work. There are still some flaws but it's the only decent plan we've got" Ron rolled his eyes, seeing that he would be overruled and standing up. He looked at Harry "are you absolutely sure because we can't lose you Harry. Not again" Harry looked at Ron sadly, a moment of brotherly love flashed between them. Harry nodded again, breaking Ron's gaze and gesturing for him to go and call the minister.

* * *

The plans were finished and everything had been organised to take place on the Saturday before Christmas. The hall had been decorated thoroughly and as beautifully as ever thanks to Hermione, Draco and all the prefects. There was a deep feeling of nervous anxiety throughout the whole castle. Every student that had been chosen to fight (all of them were of age) had been notified and trained up by none other than Harry himself.

Hermione was very uptight and on edge, going over every single detail again and again whenever she had a spare moment from studying and lessons. Their usual group of people sat in the Gryffindor common room every weekend talking and going over last minute technicalities all the way into the night.

Draco had regular meetings with Bella every three days in the same place at the same time. He was getting better and better at convincing her of his loyalty and abilities. She trusted him to a certain extent and Harry was beginning to think that Draco was the perfect infiltration.

"Granger?" he said, bending down to kiss her on the forehead and hand her a steaming cup of tea. She sat up looking very tired and weak. She had lost a little bit of weight and dark circles were starting to form around her eyes.

Draco lifted the cover and climbed back into her bed, allowing her to lean her head back on his chest while she drank for a few seconds. "How long have we got left?" she asked impassively. Draco kissed the top of her head affectionately and breathed out. She felt his anxious breathing under the muscles of his bare chest that she was snuggling into.

"Its tomorrow morning" Hermione felt her eyes tear up, she hated the thought of two of the people she loved the most in the world practically giving themselves up to the deatheaters. He knew she was crying, he didn't even have to look at her face. "Hey, listen. We are going to have a wonderful day with our friends okay? We're going to forget what I'm about to do just for today and your going to smile because it's beautiful" she sat up, leaning over him and setting the cup down on the bedside table. She turned around on the bed so she was sat facing him. "I really fucking love you Draco Malfoy" he laughed a little bit and leaned forward to kiss her deeply, wrapping his arms around her waist and pulling them back so they were lying down. He kissed every bit of her beautiful face, running his fingers through her hair. She smiled into the kiss when it touched her lips "we have to meet Harry and the others in the hall in a minute, McGonagall has obviously given us the day off" Draco groaned, rolling them over so he was on top of her "do we have to?" she chuckled "well... we do have a little bit of time before that" he mocked a frown "I wonder what we could possibly do to pass the time?" she laughed loudly and he started to tickle her before they locked back into a passionate embrace once again.


	17. Chapter 17

"Dra... Oh wow" Bellatrix turned around to find Draco stood in front of her holding Harry Potter up by the scruff of his neck. Harry was on his knees battered and bruised. He had a fat lip, two black eyes and scratches and cuts all over his face and arms. His leg was stretched out in a funny position and he was looking right at Bellatrix with a look of pure loathing.

"Well, well, well. If it isn't the great Harry Potter" she clapped her hands together slowly with every step. She crouched down to his face height and smiled at him maliciously with wide, bulging black eyes "well done Draco, you will be rewarded most excellently for this wondrous achievement" she spoke to her nephew but kept her eyes locked on Harry's "they sent him and some other Auror up to my house to check on us. I don't think they were counting on me being alone. They have quite a close relationship with my blood traitor mother I think you'll find Maria Parkison dead on the third floor corridor in a broom cupboard" Bella broke out into a wide grin "wow Potter, you've grown since you killed my master" Harry raised his sore eyebrows, smirking to himself "your tits have grown Bella..."he was unable to finish as her hand slashed across his aching face "and you wonder why we don't like you" he spat blood out on the floor.

"You think you're so clever don't you Potter? Where are your precious little friends now then? Still letting your ickle maties die for you?" he spat in her face this time and her body froze. She stood up and gestured Draco to let go of his collar.

She stepped backward as if trying to get a better look at him "you'll pay for that one Potter" she raised her wand "how's Sirius these days? CRUCIO!" she screeched loudly, Harry writhed in pain but kept him mouth shut tight.

The signal would be Harry giving in to the screams, he was trying to keep his mouth shut until he was sure all the people involved were present "shall we invite some friends?" she asked in a fake polite voice. She lifted her sleeve and pressed down on the dark tattoo, identical to the one on Draco's arm. "Did you know these still work? Yeah, it seems whoever was officially made second in command by the Dark lord can still call selected deatheaters to them. You see, no one knew until my return but after he killed Snape, he turned to me. I am the second dark lord" Harry laughed madly, throwing his head back "ooh, bad ass" she clenched her jaw, gritting her teeth.

* * *

"Wait for it, wait for it" Hermione whispered, holding her arm out to an impatient Sofia "why are we always waiting for Potter?" Hermione stomped on her foot, watching Sofia's face crunch up in pain "oops, sorry, my bad" she whispered again, moving back the nearest tree branch so she could see through the window of the house about a metre away from where they stood.

* * *

"Ah there we go every single one of my darling associates. Tonight we have a very special show for you all, Harry Potter, the boy who... didn't live" she chuckled at her own joke. Watching all of her deatheaters pop up around her "you see Potter when you fucked up our world; you made it very hard for me to recruit but numbers don't win wars do they? No its skill, precision. Waiting for the opportune moment to attack" Harry looked up at all the deatheaters stood around him with exited faces. There were only about a hundred of them.

Harry felt himself being dragged out onto the field by a hank of his hair. His glasses were smashed and he felt blood dripping down the side of his face. He was still forced on his knees. He was sat in the middle of the open grass, centre stage. Deatheaters were gathering in more numbers now. There was about three hundred and fifty of them all huddled around in a big circle, egging her on. Harry knew that he had entered the true, earthbound circle of hell.

"Bellatrix, you were right" she looked confused at his sarcastic tone "about what Potter? I'm right about many things" she lifted her wand ready to torture him again and he smiled, perplexing her even more "you have to wait for the opportune moment" she felt fury fill her from head to toe, she hated Harry. She didn't like feeling confused.

She lifted her wand and tried to smile back, he knew, from the loathing in her eyes that this one was going to be painful enough for him to scream louder than he had ever screamed before.

"CRUCIO!" she yelled, her high pitched voice echoed around the field, causing some of the deatheaters to wince. The spell hit him with gut wrenching pain and he let out an almighty blood-curdling, heart-wrenching, tear Jerking, traumatising scream filled with hate, anger, pain, and madness.

She started to laugh evilly but was caught in mid cackle when ten of her death eaters were hit at once. Harry crawled backward and pulled his wand out of Malfoy's left pocket. Draco helped him up and moved them backward quickly, pulling them both behind the shack. Bella growled as spells flew passed her from every direction, her deatheaters screaming in annoyance, shouting to get undercover.

"Fix my leg Now Malfoy" he nodded fast and muttered "episkey" Harry winced a little when the bone clicked into place but he was back on his feet in an instant. The two boys launched themselves into battle, Harry duelling a man that looked more like a muggle tramp than a wizard. It didn't take him more than two spells to kill him. Harry ducked to the ground watching most of the deatheaters falling but some were putting up a good fight. It was obvious that there were no more recruits on Bella's side because, by the look of things, she had not called for reinforcements and she had not immediately apparated to protect herself. She wasn't leaving because she was trying to protect the only thing that she had left, her tools or, in other words, her fighters.

Harry jumped up again, spotting Bella duelling with one of the polish teenagers they had recruited from the under-age training academy from across the seas. He made a beeline for her, striking down five deatheaters in his way and only needing to duel with one of them who was fighting both him and Pansy at that point. Harry waited for the man to shoot a more complicated spell at Parkison before he stunned the man, Pulling Pansy out of the way of another curse flying her way "be careful" he shouted and she nodded gratefully, joining another fight while he ran off toward his target again. Bella was still fighting the polish teenager, confused buy the amount of talent that the boy was portraying. He matched the skills of Bella but Harry couldn't let the boy kill her, she was his.

He shot a spell at the boy, stunning him momentarily and capturing Bellatrix's undivided attention. It was like her previous fight but with more passion, more hate and determination, Harry whipped his wand though the air, she could not send spells back at him, the only thing she could do to keep herself alive was to put up a split second shield charm and block his machine gun fire of spells. They circled and ducked and jumped when she finally got into the fight, moving nearly as quick as him; nearly.

He was back at the battle; in his head he saw it all now. He heard the screams from around him and the thuds as bodies hit the ground. Bellatrix was losing and fast. Eventually they found themselves duelling so hard they were moving around the field, through the crowds of people falling, the best fighters on her side getting tired and falling. Harry was not wavering, he had never been so full of adrenaline and he felt the blood flowing through his veins faster than ever before. He could feel the sweat on his bloody forehead and smell the mud and blood being splattered around him as rain began to fall, only egging him on further.

They were duelling for a spaced out twenty minutes before Harry felt his heart jump through his throat, Bella did something that froze him to the spot and blurred out the battle around him. She had Hermione.

Bellatrix Lestrange was holding Hermione upright with her wand pointing directly at her neck. Hermione was shaking, tears pouring like a waterfall down her battle worn face. She too looked as though she was not tiring; simply suffering from the flashback of torture she had received one year previous at the grubby, relentless hands of Bella.

"It's done Potter, its over. You kill me and you kill her to. You may as well do it, this filthy little mudblood has lived to long anyway" the fight around them froze, Harry realised that every deatheater had dropped dead or was otherwise seriously maimed. He closed his eyes, earning several gasps from around him, he, of all people knew that he should never close his eyes until the war was over.

He opened them again and smiled calmly at her "your right again Bellatrix Lestrange, it is over" Draco shot a body bind curse at her from behind. Her body froze and fell to the ground, Hermione managing to duck away from it before it took her down to. She fell sideways into Draco's arms, shaking uncontrollably. Ron was next to them and he took her hand, finally accepting the relationship for what it was.

Harry stepped forward and kicked her so she was belly up on the ground. Her wand fell out of her still grasp and Draco grabbed it, backing off with Hermione still in his arms. Harry smiled at her eyes moving around crazily in her sunken sockets.

With one lazy wave of his wand, Harry lifted her curse. She stood up, glancing furiously at Harry before she looked around frantically for her wand. Harry lifted his and pointed it at her chest "for the last time Bellatrix" she frowned, shaking her head, refusing to accept defeat just like her master before her.

"What are you babbling on about now Potter?" he smiled and said in a calm and content voice "you're the weak ones. And you'll never know love... this is for Sirius Bellatrix" her eyes widened with fear for a split second before he said, quite simply, making a promise to himself that he would never speak those words again "Avada Kedavra" the green light met her black pupils and vulnerability took over for a moment before her body dropped unceremoniously to the cold, hard ground.


	18. Chapter 18

"How many?" Harry asked solemnly "Mr Potter what you have to understa..." he cut the healer off, he needed to know "how many" he asked again slightly off-hand this time "well I would say the injured are at three hundred. We have fifty dead, ten of them were foreign, two were under-age" Harry sighed tiredly, feeling Ginny take his hand for comfort "okay. God, I never thought I'd have to do this again; um could you please get a list of the dead written up and sent too Hogwarts for me by tomorrow? Thank you and also, make sure all the injured have a next of kin with them?" the healer nodded like he was about to go to a funeral and walked off, talking to someone in the nearest cubical and scribbling on his clipboard.

"You can't blame yourself again, you know that don't you? Fifty dead out of five thousand, I mean, obviously it would have been brilliant if no one had died but that's near impossible so it was quite a decent number compared to all the people we lost last time" Harry nodded, she could tell he saw the truth in her words. She hated seeing him like this, she'd had to watch it for the last year, watch him blame himself, blame other people, drink and cry, sleep and cry, hardly ever eat and cry. He was taking her by surprise though; he hadn't shed very many tears at all. He had at first, because of the immediate sense of lass that was gripping him but after things had sunk in properly, he was licking his wounds faster than before. She was grateful for that, she drew comfort from it.

* * *

Hermione was laid up in bed back at Hogwarts in the hospital wing, along with all the other minor student injuries. She was asleep, her breathing slightly irregular but otherwise, there was nothing to suggest that she had suffered anything more than a broken leg and arm. The truth was, she had lost it, for a few seconds when Bellatrix had hold of her, she had lost her mind. All the years of fighting and smiling and laughing and crying had finally gotten to her. It snapped some of the last shreds of endurance in her brilliant mind but as soon as she had hit Draco's body when she moved sideways away from Bella, everything had come back to her and things made sense again. She felt as though she could have swum a river of water forever and never drink from it.

She was only partly aware of Draco's hand in hers as she drifted in and out of consciousness but never opening her brown eyes. Eventually Draco fell into an uneasy sleep as well, leaning his head back on the uncomfortable chair he was sitting on. He would jump awake every time one of her fingers twitched in his hold or one of her breaths were al split second late.

Madame Pomfrey was covering the room, treating one person at a time, one broken leg or shattered eye socket after the other, just like the last time. When she finally got to Hermione, she woke Draco first by gently touching his free hand. He jerked his eyes opened again but she smiled kindly "I was just wondering if you wanted to give Miss Granger her potion yourself Mr Malfoy, she just needs three drops. It should help to calm her nerves. Then I'll sort her legs, the pain potion should be wearing off by now" Draco nodded sleepily and stood up, the crick in his neck pulling his muscles slightly and he stretched out.

He bent over and kissed her forehead gently, wiping the hair away from her face whilst doing so. "Granger, you need to take this potion" her eyes flickered open and she scanned the room quickly before discovering that her legs were throbbing terribly. She yelped in pain when she tried to move them, he placed a hand on her shoulder "no, don't try to move, Madame Pomfrey is going to fix your legs in a minute when you've taken this to settle you down" Hermione looked confused and disorientated but opened her mouth for the potion nonetheless. He smiled gently and took both her hands.

"there you go, that's a bit better isn't it?" she frowned at him "Draco, I'm not five" he chuckled, the worried look in his blue pupils vanishing for a second "nothing changes does it?" she went to smile but another blast of pain shot through her legs. "Okay Madame P, I think you need to do it now because she's in pain" the nurse nodded and tried to smile reassuringly at Hermione who was going pale again. She gripped Draco's hands hard and he gritted his teeth together knowing that if he winced she would let go, and she needed to squeeze that hard for comfort.

Madame Pomfrey pointed her wand at Hermione's wonky legs and muttered the spell. There was a sickening crunch and Hermione yelped a little before feeling a very strange feather light sensation take over her brain.

She voiced it to Draco who nodded, unworried "it's fine Granger, probably just the calming potion doing its job"

She breathed out heavily, the weight of the events of the day was slowly lifting from her shoulders and she slipped slowly back into a dreamless sleep.

* * *

"Before I say anything to you today I would just like to pay special thanks to Harry Potter and Draco Malfoy for their brave contribution to our victory against the deatheaters yesterday. Could we give them a round of applause please?" Ginny took Harry's hand from underneath the table as they watched the whole school stand up and clap loudly. Minerva waited for the applause to die down before carrying on.

"Yesterday, history repeated itself. There was a bloody battle when we lost fifty people from our alliance. Thankfully none of them was from our school but when you have a chance, please spare a thought for those families who lost friends and loved ones during this terrible time. We are close to wiping out all whom were associated with the deatheater clan and any of Bellatrix Lestrange's recruits whom survived our wrath are currently being interrogated, imprisoned or otherwise disposed of. Something we never did last year was talk about the people that we lost in the years leading up to what was supposed to be the final battle. I would like to take this moment to remember the disappearances and injuries obtained then. I cannot mention them all because there were so many but people like Cedric Diggory, Barty Crouch, Sirius Black, Professor Dumbledore, Colin Creevey and Amelia Bones and so on. I do not know how many times I will say this in the next century but just because we have had to fight again does not mean we can't continue with the new life. A wise old man once said to every one of you that although we may come from different places and speak in different tongues, our hearts beat as one"

Her speech finished with more clapping, Harry looked around to see a hall identical to the last time those lines were spoken. People clinging onto each other for support, silent tears falling down almost every face for the people that they never knew and never would know.

They were dismissed morosely from the hall, Hermione clinging onto Draco and wiping her tears away, trying to smile; Harry and Ginny holding hands tight, Ginny refusing to cry like she always had done, Ron walking next to Harry looking depressed.

"Hey, every year always comes down to this, don't you think. You know, the big speech from the headmaster highlighting something that bums us all out, the whole lets go and have fun in the non-existent sun, this castles beautiful, I never noticed before" Hermione chuckled, wrapping her arm loosely around Draco's waist "Ron you do know it's only December right? We still have the rest of the school year to go yet" he shrugged "hypothetically Hermione "they bickered all the way through the school and out onto the grounds where Harry summoned their coats and watched the giant squid shiver in the water every now and again. They watched the sun come up over the hill behind Hogsmede and Harry smiled.

His life was never going to be perfect, after everything that had happened to him, how it could have been. He always thought that it didn't matter where he was or why he was there, as long as he had his friends and family around him, alive and well. As he watched the sun get comfortable amongst the gathering clouds, his thoughts strayed here and there, and rested upon the comforting fact that always made him feel on top of the world; at least he had one more amazing, normal day to spend with his friends, Ginny and maybe even Draco, it didn't matter what was on the Horizon.


	19. Chapter 19

"MERRY CHRISTMAS!" Hermione heard Ron shout from outside her bedroom door. She also heard Harry standing up out of his sleeping bag and cursing Ron for waking him and Ginny up. She smiled, revelling in how uncomplicated her life had been in the recent week since the fight. Draco was already up because he was not in bed next to her. She sighed, feeling slightly cold without him there to cuddle up to.

She knew he was probably in the kitchen drinking a silent cup of tea while he waited for the others to wake up. They had a sleepover that night, deciding to bring whatever presents that they'd received to Hermione and Draco's room to open together in the morning. Ron was still bitter but he was warming to Malfoy, who was being nice to Ron for Hermione's sake.

She got up, feeling her curls fall to around her slender waist as she grabbed a hair band from her bedside table before going to her door hook and wrapping her long fluffy dressing gown around her snugly. She pushed through the door, her eyes still half closed. Harry had started up the fire with his wand and Draco was walking in and putting five cups of tea down on the Coffey table. He smiled when he looked up at her and held out his hand for her to join them around the fire and get warm.

"Merry Christmas!" Ginny bounced up and down on the sofa like a little girl, making Hermione laugh at her friend's antics. "No but seriously, who'd have thought we'd be here at the end of this year?" Ginny said, smiling in memory of the best events of the previous twelve months. Harry handed out everyone's first presents and they opened them at the same time.

Ginny got a surprise when she opened hers. She froze in her seat, Hermione grinned widely from beside her and Draco's eyebrows hit the top of his head. Harry moved closer to her on the floor "well, say something Gin, your killing me" Ginny's mouth opened like she wanted to say something but closed it immediately. Harry didn't breath, studying her facial expressions carefully and was completely knocked backward when Ginny launched herself at him, their bodies hitting the floor, tears of happiness swam in her eyes and her arms wrapped tightly around his neck "YES" she shouted, making Hermione burst into joyous tears, Draco smiled widely and Ron looked totally nonplussed "huh? Yes to what? Harry, what did you buy...? OH! Oh my god WOW!" Ron said, complete shock written all over his face "he asked her to marry him you idiot" Hermione said through happy sobs. Hermione grabbed Harry and hugged him tightly when he was free of his sobbing fiancé. His face was lit up and his whole insides were dancing, he felt like his heart had jumped for joy.

"Oh my god Ginny! Let him put the ring on then" Ginny laughed at Hermione's enthusiasm and turned to Harry, who took the red velvet case from her hands and opened it, earning a gasp from Hermione, even though she'd already seen it. The ring was a breathtaking quality sliver all the way around and there was a blood red ruby on top "It's beautiful" Ginny breathed.

Harry got down on one knee "In all my life, I never thought that I would be this lucky. When I'm with you, it feels like I'm taking moments from a normal person's life, no, a perfect persons perfect life. You pulled me through everything that I never thought I could do and you are the most beautiful person on the planet to me and you always will be. When I think of you it's like the sun is shining brighter than I ever thought was possible. You are my everything Ginny Weasley and I can't live without you. I love you more than anything else on the planet and you've made me the happiest person in the world and I want to spend the rest of my life trying with everything that I am to make you feel the same way. Ginny Weasley will you do me the honour of becoming my wife?" Hermione was smiling, tears swimming in her eyes, one arm around Draco. Ron was still looking shocked and Harry was struggling to get through his whole speech without crying. Ginny was crying buckets and she laughed, answering in a barely audible "yes"

she didn't know it but at that moment, when he slipped the ring on her finger, Harry Potter was flying amongst the stars.


	20. Chapter 20

Draco Malfoy sighed, he really had no Idea how he was going to ask her, he hated pinning things on her too fast, he was never very good with the whole 'let's take the next step' stuff because had never really gone any further in a relationship then "that was a nice shag, we should do it again sometime" by then, the girl had already slapped him across the face and left the room.

She came and sat down on the sofa of their common room after flinging her bag to the side of the door. She sat down next to him and smiled, kissing him on the cheek before opening her book. He breathed out another sigh of awkwardness, this got her attention. She looked up at him, frowning "what's the matter?" he looked strange, a little off, like he wasn't really aware of what was going on around him "Draco, if I kiss you, will you pay attention to me then?" he shook himself away from the train of thought and decided to ask her straight out.

"Granger, when we've finished our NEWTs? I was wondering, are you going to live with your parents?" he asked her, she looked confused but answered his question anyway "no, I was thinking of getting my own place actually" he nodded and mentally cursed himself, she looked slightly impatient "Draco is this going somewhere because you've obviously got something on your mind" Hermione tried to give him a 'you can tell me anything' look and he seemed to catch on to what she was trying to do so he just asked her out right "did you want to get a flat together or something? You know, when you've got yourself sorted and that "he blurted loudly. She chuckled, grinning happily "you had me worried; I had all sorts of things going through my mind then. Yeah sure, I'd love to live with you; I'll just need to get my muggle bank account changed to wizard currency but sure! Oh Draco you've made my extremely boring day" he laughed, feeling a huge weight lift away from his shoulders, he kissed her in celebration and jumped up doing a little victory dance. She giggled "has Ginny hit you with a foreign jinx again?" he shook his head enthusiastically and she chuckled a little bit more before going back to her book.

* * *

"Well to be honest I think we should go with the Lily's, you know be symbolic and that" Ron rolled his eyes, close to banging his head on the table several times "enough with the fucking wedding talk already, it's not good for my rage" Ginny raised her eyebrows "oh yeah I'd love to see you lose it just so I can rip your tongue out. Look I know you're depressed and your life isn't fair and all that shit but Ron will you just stop moaning for one minute!" Ginny shot at her brother, making him scowl but he shut up anyway, a little frightened of his sisters temper even though it was probably more tamed than his.

* * *

"Ron, what month is it?" Hermione asked, he frowned, looking slightly worried "are you okay, how do you no know what month it is Mione, you're the most switched on person I know" she gave him a warning look that meant 'get me angry and I'll kill you' he rolled his eyes, answering with "its June" she nodded in thanks and scribbled the date down on the fresh piece of parchment she had just written an essay on. She dropped her white feather quill and brought her elbows up to the table, putting her head in her hands tiredly. Ron put his hand on her arm "are you sure your okay Hermione" she took a long, deep breath and lifted her head to smile at him "I don't deserve you Ron" Ron looked impassive and dropped his hand back onto the table. He closed his eyes trying to calm the sudden rush of dangerous emotion in the pit of his stomach; he wasn't supposed to feel anything too much. All his emotions had to be limited or he could snap. He opened his eyes again to find her staring at him with true sadness in her eyes. "I'm sorry" she breathed and he clenched his jaw, all he could do was nod curtly and leave the room. He didn't even look back once.

* * *

"So today, I want you to divide into pairs and produce me a healing potion. This potion, when brewed correctly, will cure any fatal, physically inflicted injury even when the wounded is but an inch from death. But be very careful, we don't really want any explosions today" the class groaned, moving into their normal pairs and starting to unpack their ingredients.

"So its eye of newt, beetle legs, lavender..." she nodded to everything he said eventually cutting him off "yes Draco, its all on the board don't worry" he smirked at her slight annoyance, loving her 'bossy' mode. People thought she was uptight but he saw it as devotion and efficiency. He had been like the rest of the people in the class before he had fallen in love with her; thinking that she was a smug little know-it-all. He knew now that she was anything but. She was naturally clever and most definitely not smug. "Calm yourself Granger, you're stressing yourself out again" he said, taking her hand and moving it away from the cauldron. She rolled her eyes "here, let me finish this potion off, you sit down for a second" he offered, he didn't like it when she over worked herself. She smiled at him kindly, trying to pat down her hair that had frizzed up from the fumes and heat coming off their mixture.

They were one step ahead of everyone but Potter, who had just stopped stirring the golden liquid and was sitting down with his feet up on the table, reading 'quidditch through the ages' again. Ron was muttering instructions to Neville's table behind his and Harry's. Neville had been working alone again which meant that there wasn't a chance in hell that he was going to get the potion right.

"Excellent Mr Malfoy, you can sit down now and wait for the rest of the class to finish" said their new potions teacher, Professor Brail. Malfoy flashed her 'Malfoy' smirk before taking a seat next to Hermione and taking her hand gently.

Harry got the best results in potions as usual when the teacher dropped a withering lily petal into the cauldron and a bright, clean white one floated back to the surface "bravo Mr Potter, Mr Weasley as always. Now, we have only two weeks left of school meaning you will be taking your NEWT exams next week. That is why your homework is to revise hard and take what you need to from the store cupboard to practice; but please don't make any harmful potions, and no using them on yourselves. I mean it, or there'll be hell to pay" she finished at the front of the steamy classroom, waggling her finger at them warningly. They all stood up, gathering their ingredients notes and leaving their proper potions lesson for the very last time.


	21. Chapter 21

"I can't believe it's our last day here, ever" Hermione mused. Harry nodded, staring out across the lake in silent agreement. "Man I'm gonna miss this place" Harry said, his voice strained with some kind of emotion between sadness and happiness.

The sun shone down on their faces as they sat there, wet from going for a spontaneous and mad splash in the water. The sun warmed them as they huddled, fitting together as the most unlikely, amazing, famous, problematic, complicated, free, loving group of friends ever to come through the Hogwarts passage.

"It's just so beautiful" Hermione whispered, as though it might shift and turn ugly if it heard her talking. Harry leaned into her sideways and kissed her on the cheek, Ron beaming brightly at them both from next to Ginny. "I always knew I'd have to leave someday. I just never thought ahead this far, I didn't even think I'd survive this far" Ginny wrapped her arm around him tighter for support.

"Come on, Minerva is sending us all home in an hour. Let's go be with our friends for a bit yeah?" they all agreed with Ginny, standing up to walk away from their whole childhood, the sun casting their shadows out far in front of them as they walked past the womping willow that quivered, sending a small robin flying off in a hurry.

"EVERYBODY! GET DOWN HERE, YOUR LETTERS HAVE COME" the jolly, nervous voice of Molly Weasley bellowed all the way up the staircase, causing a small commotion as Harry, Hermione, Ron and Ginny came crashing into the kitchen in a fluster, looking around crazily for the letters.

They grabbed them from her hand when she held them out. Harry opened his straight away, it read...

Nastily Exhausting Wizard Test results.

**Passing Grades **

Outstanding (O)

Exceeds expectations (E)

Acceptable (A)

**Failing Grades**

Poor (P)

Dreadful (D)

Troll (T)

_HARRY JAMES POTTER HAS ACHIEVED_

_Charms_: E

_Defence Against the Dark Arts_: O

_Herbology_: E

_Potions_: O

_Transfiguration_: E

_Astronomy_: E

_Care of Magical Creatures_: E

_History of Magic_: P

Harry smiled widely, thinking aloud to himself "I think I'll call Kingsley and see about that Auror training" Molly took the piece of paper off him, scanning it quickly with her eyes and squealing, pulling him into a lung crushing hug.

Hermione was sat at the kitchen table in complete shock. Ron had a huge grin on his face and jumped for joy, punching the air happily. Fred and George came into the kitchen, processing the scene in front of them and amused looks spreading across their identical faces.

"Hermione, it's not going to burst into flames if you stare at it for long enough" Harry said, noticing that she still hadn't moved. She remained frozen to her seat even when he spoke louder "Hermione, wake up. What did you get?" Harry crouched down beside her chair and a wide grin hit his face suddenly when he saw her results.

He put his hand on her shoulder and she finally turned her head to look at him "I'm not imagining this am I?" Hermione asked him, tears welling up in her bright eyes. Harry chuckled, wiping them away with his thumb "No. its real. You got outstanding for everything" Molly gasped and Ginny's head snapped up from her own letter, a look of disbelief on her pretty face "no way. That's not even possible" she breathed, Ron smiled and went to Hermione, wrapping his arm around her and squeezing her lightly before letting go. This took Hermione by surprise, Ron had been avoiding any body contact with her at all since he had held her hand before the battle at the broken down house.

She finally managed to smile, beginning to smile and clapping her hand over her mouth, looking at Harry as if waiting for him to tell her that it was a hoax. He said nothing, he just smiled proudly "well done Hermione, you've worked so hard for the last seven years, you deserve this so much" he kissed her on the cheek and stood back up, his knees starting to shake from crouching for a little bit too long.

"Don't be silly Harry, we would never be where we are today without each other" Ron drew up a chair beside her and leaned it toward her and Harry. Ron nodded in agreement and said "seriously though, we'd all be loners if we didn't have each other" Ginny and her mother felt a private moment coming on that should only be shared by the golden trio. They left the room silently, pulling the twins with them, Fred and George's hushed protests being ignored by the mother and daughter that were alike but different in so many ways.

"I love you guys" Hermione said, another small tear falling gracefully down her solemn face. Harry sat down as well and she wrapped her arms around both of their necks bringing them closer to her. Harry chuckled, rolling his eyes and saying "don't go all soppy Hermione" she tutted, removing her arm from around him and smacking him around the back of the head. He rubbed it in mock offence "so much for fucking love" Harry mumbled moodily, making her laugh momentarily, letting go of Ron and looking at her NEWT results again, one last time before she stood up. The boys frowned at her stupidly, asking the silent question. She sighed "I'm going to floo Draco numbnuts, he wanted to see me after I got the results" Ron smiled at her fakely, feeling a familiar sense of loss wash over him that came whenever she talked about Draco, It was still a sensitive subject, however unavoidable it was.

* * *

"OI! You know full well you don't touch the food until its finished cooking Malfoy" she batted away his hand as he dropped his jaw in mock disgust at her use of his last name. She frowned "I mean it Draco, leave the food be" he rolled his eyes and went back into the living room to watch the TV until she'd finished cooking.

Living with Hermione had its ups and downs, for example; she was freakishly tidy but then again, he loved going to sleep at night with her in his arms and waking up with her in the same place, he got to snuggle up on the sofa with her and talk about nothing in particular at the end of a stressful day, he enjoyed seeing their things together and he liked that it didn't matter what an awful day he'd had at Auror training, he could go home and forget all about it and just be with her. He basically loved every minute he spent in her company nearly as much as he loved her, which was near impossible.

* * *

Ron was extremely different to how he was during the most recent of their battles. He was so much more calm and comfortable and he was dating Lavender again, this had actually amused Hermione very much and she frequently teased Ron about it.

"Won Won, you didn't pull the toilet seat down again, you know what I think about that" Lavender called from the bathroom in the muggle flat he rented in London. Hermione, Harry and Ginny were sat around on the cushions surrounding his flat screen TV. Ron had discovered 'the box' when going through a muggle store with Hermione, who was helping him style his flat, since then he and the television had been inseparable.

Ron made a gesture of pulling his hair out, making Hermione shoot him a look that clearly said 'hate too say I told you so' Ron rolled his eyes up to his head in utmost annoyance "for fuck sake, she doesn't even live here" he whispered to his friends "well dump her then, you never liked her your just with her because she shags you without a fuss" Hermione said, standing up to go and get another drink from the kitchen. Ron watched her leave, grunting in annoyance. Lavender came back in and sat back down on Ron's lap, turning to smile girlishly at Ginny "wrong lipstick colour really is a pain isn't it Gin Gin" Ginny worked hard to stop herself from smirking, it looked painful and she gulped, smiling as fakely as possible back "yes Lav Lav, such a bummer" Harry's ribs were hurting from the laughter he was trying to hold in at the sarcasm in his fiancés voice. "Anyway, must be going, lots of last minute wedding planning to do. I'll call you tomorrow Won Won" Ron looked murderous when Harry and Ginny got up to leave "get Hermione's coat as well, she's my maid of honour, I need her to come to" Ginny said loudly so Hermione could hear "awww, so sad, your all going? Well don't forget Gin Gin, don't wear gold lipstick, it clashes rather badly with your hair colour" Lavender commented, a tone of fake friendliness and sickly cakeyness in her high pitched voice "yes Lavatory, and keep reminding brother dearest to put the lav seat down. ciao now" Ginny called, pushing Hermione and Harry through the front door before Lavender could figure out what she'd said.

* * *

Ginny took a deep breath and nodded to her mother who had tears in her eyes. Molly Weasley pulled the curtain away from the antique mirror stood in front of her.

She gasped, tearing up when she saw her reflection. The woman in the mirror had long, wavy red hair that shone brightly in the light of the sun streaming through the window. Her face was so pale that it had a beautiful transparent glow to it. She wore a slim fit blood red dress that fell down to the floor, covering her ankles. She wore an intricate silver tiara that fit perfectly on her head among the curls and waves that created a dazzling look of elegance and true beauty.

"I look..." she breathed, her mother smiled proudly, compassion shining out of her from the very core of her soul and it was written all over her face "you look Beautiful" Molly finished the sentence, walking forward and hugging her daughter tightly but trying not to ruin the dress of her make-up.

"Are you absolutely sure?" the mother asked, taking the daughters hand and squeezing it "I've never been more sure of anything in my entire life" Ginny said, her voice a little shaky but otherwise content and happy. Molly nodded "well, lets go" the daughter closed her eyes for a few seconds, breathing in "Oh my god, I'm getting married to Harry Potter mum!" Molly chuckled tearfully, taking her daughters arm "your father will meet you downstairs and I'll see you in the marquee. Ginny, I love you, so much" Ginny smiled widely "don't do that mum, you'll ruin my mascara" Molly laughed and said "come on then"

Molly led her down the stairs carefully, holding up her dress and helping her step when needed. Molly left her with Arthur at their door, scuttling along the white satin carpet laid out in front of them.

"Ginny, you should know that I am so proud of you and you'll always be my little girl" Arthur said, kissing her on the cheek. Ginny nodded, waving at her eyes to dry them before allowing her dad to take her arm and lead her forward, her hair glistened brilliantly in the bright, warm sun.

Gasps filled the tent when she entered, people already reaching for their hankies as the traditional wedding music played in the background. Her steps were slightly shaky but even and sure. When she saw him, she couldn't wait to get up to the isle.

Harry looked very handsome; he had on a black tuxedo and deep red tie. His glasses glinted in the low candle light that had been bewitched to float dreamily around the marquee. His hair stuck up at the back as usual but she didn't care, she liked it that way.

His face lit up when she walked the room, the unbelievable elegance and natural beauty hit him like it did every day; like a ton of brick has been dropped on his head. She was more unreal than Fleur Weasley had looked at her wedding to Bill three years previous. It took his breath away.

When she reached the front he took her hand and squeezed it, they were both grinning at each other stupidly, tears in both their eyes. "Hey" she said, he smiled wider, if it was possible, and he knew, at that moment that it didn't matter if his life was tainted with loss and sadness, he had Ginny, Ron Hermione and Draco and he always would.

He must have said the words requested of him because when he lost his train of thought, he was already slipping the silver diamond on her slender finger. They both wiped their tears away and she slid her arms around his neck and kissed him like she'd never kissed him before, slow and tender but passionate and needy at the same time. Someone coughed loudly and they broke apart to some shocked faces which turned almost immediately into laughter and congratulations. Everyone stood up and clapped as they walked back down the aisle together. They stopped when everyone had followed them outside so Ginny could throw her flowers over her head.

At that moment, Draco nudged Hermione sideways deliberately so that she would catch it. It landed in her hands and wolf whistles could be heard behind them and she looked up at him with cheeky suspicion. He shrugged, not bothering to claim his innocence, he loved the thought of getting married to Hermione someday and he thought of the look on her face when he asked her. Smiling to himself, he threw him arm around her neck and pulled her sideways into his body, dropping a kiss in top of her head.

"I love you more than anything else in the entire world you know that don't you" he said to her. She frowned, smirking at the same time, replying "have you been sneaking the champagne again Draco?" she asked, her eyebrows raised but she had a smile on her face "no, I just thought I'd tell you" he said, staring at her with nothing but unconditional love in his ocean blue eyes. She grinned at him, leaning on her tip toes to kiss him, whispering against his soft lips "by the way, I love you too. Oh and you know our password for out dorm at Hogwarts. Guess what it means? LOVE!" he chuckled "well my answer to that one would be something a wise teenage boy once told me... tell me something I don't know" she laughed, remembering the day out on the Hogwarts grounds when she'd first told him that she loved him. Suddenly she looked guilty "was that a rhetorical question or do you actually want me to answer that?" she said, biting her bottom lip nervously like a little girl caught with her hands in the cookie jar. His face turned suspicious and he frowned "that depends on what the answer is" he said, his tone turning serious.

"Um yeah, I ate your last chocolate bar" she said quietly, he dropped his jaw again and his eyes widened "right, that's it" he growled. She giggled loudly and began to run, her dress floating and blowing around in the last traces of the summer breeze. Her brown hair flowed through the air beautifully and Draco could have sworn that he was looking at an angel. He smiled to himself, praying silently that he could run with her like this, watch her sleep, kiss her and make love to her, live with her as long as his life lasted him. As long as the sun was shining and the grass was green, as long as the world held its beauty and the seas held their water, he knew she would be alive and she would be his. Because she was Hermione Granger and he loved her more than anything else that existed.

Forever.


End file.
